JJ intervenes; interviews stopped

Following complaints that it was improper and irregular in terms of the elections law

The Ministry of Culture and Arts has suspended interviews for the selection of newly recruited graduates to various positions in it following complaints that it was improper and irregular in terms of the elections law, officials said yesterday.

I immediately took the matter up with the Elections Commissioner. He instructed me to rush to the scene and observe what was happening.

The recruitment of employees to the public service is prohibited in the run up to an election.

UNP MP Dr.Jayalath Jayawardane told the Daily Mirror yesterday that he received a complaint of such interviews being conducted for graduates at the Ministry.

"I immediately took the matter up with the Elections Commissioner. He instructed me to rush to the scene and observe what was happening. I went and made inquiries from the relevant officials including Ministry's Additional Secretary Vajira C.Piyatissa and Secretary Wasantha Ekanayake. Then, I lodged an official complaint with the Commissioner. After that, I heard that the interviews had been suspended," he said.

The UNP MP said graduates from areas such as Polonnaruwa, Kegalle, Ratnapura, Batticaloa and Anuradhapura had walked in for interviews by the time he went to the Ministry.

Asked for a comment in this regard, Mr. Ekanayake said his officials were not planning to recruit any graduate at this hour.

"All these were graduates recruited earlier. Now, they are being attached to different ministries. We were doing interviews to select the graduates suitable for our Ministry. We wanted to identify graduates who had done subjects such as Aesthetic Studies and Archaeology to work in our ministry," he said. However, he said the interviews were suspended till the election was over.

Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said he informed the Ministry to stop the interviews if they were 'improper and irregular' according to the elections law.