Circular on reinstating Govt. employees contesting LG polls next week: PM

The Cabinet Paper would be presented next week and steps would be taken to issue the circular which would allow state employees who are contesting the Local Government elections to report for duty outside the local government authority they were contesting, Public Administration Minister and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said today.

The Prime Minister said the decision has to be made so that the election laws were not violated as the Elections Commission has not officially cancelled the election.

He said a decision was made to reinstate them outside the local government authority they were contesting after a discussion with the Elections Commission.

Meanwhile, Responding to allegations that some state employees who were contesting the election had not received their basic salary as yet, State Minister Janaka Wakkumbura said heads of some institutions had not implemented the cabinet decision properly even though heads of all state institutions were advised to pay the basic salary.

"Heads of some institutions have not been able to determine whether their employees are state employees and therefore did not pay the basic salary," he said.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa said they had received complaints that some state employees contesting the LG polls had not received their salaries.

Opposition MPs Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Dayasiri Jayasekara and Lakshman Kiriella said steps should be taken to reinstate them in their original working places as some employees have practical issues if asked to work outside their local government authority.

They said employees at CPC and Government Printing Department would have to face issues due to this decision. 

Minister Wakkumbura said steps would be taken to resolve such issues in consultation with the heads of those institutions.(Ajith Siriwardanaana and Yohan Perera)