Employees go before Supreme Court against proposed sale of SLT

• Sri Lanka All Telecommunication Employees Union files FR petition in Supreme Court
• Seeks an order restraining Treasury Secretary from taking any steps to divest SLT shares held by him
• Also, state-proposed sale of shares affects other state sector shareholders of SLT

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda  
The Sri Lanka All Telecommunication Employees Union yesterday filed a fundamental rights (FR) petition in the Supreme Court, seeking an order restraining the Treasury Secretary from taking any steps to divest the shares held by him in Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLT).

Sri Lanka All Telecommunication Employees Union President J.B. Gurusinghe and its General Secretary Kamalanath Hettiarachchi filed this petition against the decision taken in principle by the Cabinet of Ministers to divest the shares of SLT held by the Treasury Secretary. 

The petitioners stated that the purported decision is said to be implemented by the purported State Owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit. The petitioners said they are unaware as to when this decision was taken in principle by the Cabinet of Ministers and such a decision has not been made public.

The petitioners maintained that the arbitrary decision purported to be taken to divest the shares also affects the other shareholders of the state sector, including the Employees’ Provident Fund, Bank of Ceylon A/C Ceybank Trust, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Ltd Fund, Employees’ Trust Fund, National Savings Bank, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Ltd General Fund and Bank of Ceylon No. 1 Account.

The petitioners stated that the said decision has not been made after public consultation or after consultation with the employees of SLT, including the petitioners’ trade union. 

They further stated that the said decision goes against the hallowed concept of public trust and the spirit of the Constitution, as a majority of the shares of SLT (54.01 percent) are held by the Government of Sri Lanka and by public corporations, in which the state is the majority shareholder.

This petition was filed through Attorney-at-Law Manjula Balasooriya.