Housing, Construction and Cultural Affairs Minister Sajith Premadasa yesterday informed the Presidential Commission that he does not believe that appointing 2,300 employees to the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) was illegal.

He said that NHDA had followed the proper guidelines when appointing these employees and the recruitment had been conducted through the NHDA Chairman.

Earlier it was informed to the Commission that appointing 2,300 employees to the NHDA had happened by exceeding the approved cardre and these employees has been appointed without a proper training process.

However the Minister said that all these people had engaged in managing housing projects and these employees had worked in an efficient manner to succeed with these projects.

The Commission also questioned the Minister that NHDA Chairman and the General Manager had admitted the fact that these recruitment had made by violating certain circulations.

"Recruiting employees to NHDA is not within my purview, it is a responsibility of NHDA Chairman. However as a practice, I present these employees appointment letters in an offcial event and I believe that it is a motivational tool to encourage them," Minister responded to the question.

When the commissioners questioned about the Rs. 641 million which was paid as salaries to these employees, the Minister said that the employees got the salary for assisting housing development projects and the Ministry had not wasted a penny.

He also notified that during the 52 days government there was a 15% loss within the NHDA and during that time only the NHDA had removed certain employees who were under contract basis. (Yoshitha Perera)

Video by RM, Suranjith