Rumble in the CEB Focus shifts from investigation to appointing GM

• The appointment of Dr. Abeysekara as the General Manager on temporary basis has raised concern amongst the CEB employees
• CEB’s experienced Chairman M.C. Ferdinando has been harassed for several years while working as the Ministry Secretary
• The CCD is bound to conduct the investigation despite withdrawal of the complaint, as it is a serious criminal offence
• According to Section 5(5) of the CEB Act, it requires to submit ‘good and sufficient cause’ for the removal of a General Manager
• Eng. Ranatunga has sought for a mandate in the nature of Writ of Certiorari, quashing the decision taken by Minister Lokuge
• Issuing an interim order, the CA on January 11, 2022, directed the Board of Directors of CEB not to appoint a GM on a permanent basis upon the retirement of Eng. Ranatunga
• The Minister recommended Dr. Susantha Perera as he was the most experienced and competent Electrical Engineer 

 In an attempt to defend the members of the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers Union who are accused of recent power sabotage in the country the Secretary Ministry of Power is alleged to have instructed the IGP to suspend the ongoing investigation carried out by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD).

Highly reliable police sources from the CCD told the Dailymirror    that they were to file a ‘B’ report in courts against those who were involved in the sabotage, but had to withdraw the matter due to instructions received from the ‘top’. The sources further added that they believe the unexpected transfer given recently to the Director CCD, who showed his eagerness to investigate the electricity disruption, to another Police Division, could be to impede the ongoing investigation.   

A member of the CEB Board of Directors on strict condition of anonymity told this newspaper how the President’s Office telephoned each board member separately on Friday January 21, instructing them to take a unanimous board decision to appoint Dr. Abeysekara as the Acting GM at the next board meeting

“A complaint was lodged by Engineer Pradeep Manage on December 3, 2021, regarding power sabotage. However the following day the complainant had withdrawn the complaint claiming that he was threatened by fellow Engineer Dr. D.C.R. Abeysekara and few other members of the Engineers’ Union (EU). Despite the withdrawal of the said complaint General Manager Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), by letter dated December 9, 2021, requested Director CCD to go ahead with the investigation as he (GM) never wanted his subordinate to withdraw the complaint. As this is a criminal offence, the then Director CCD, SSP P.J. Nandana by letter dated December 15, 2021 (Ref: No: D/CCD/10931/2021) to the CEB informed that the CCD is bound to conduct the investigation despite withdrawal of the complaint, as it is a serious criminal offence. The instructions received from the ‘top’ to suspend the investigation could be the reason why SSP Nandana was transferred to another police division,” sources said.

Eng. Abeysekara too has filed a separate Writ Application in Court of Appeal (No: 605/2021) claiming that he has a legitimate expectation to be appointed to the post of GM and that no extension of the term of office should be granted to Eng. Ranatunga 

Meanwhile, due to continuous political pressure mounted on CEB Chairman from the Advisor to the President Lalith Weeratunga and Secretary Ministry of Power Wasantha Perera, Eng. Dr. Abeysekara, who is one of the suspects in the reported sabotage in Welivita in Sri Jayawardenapura zone on December 2, 2021, has been appointed as the General Manager on temporary basis which has raised concern amongst the CEB employees.
A member of the CEB Board of Directors on strict condition of anonymity told this newspaper how the President’s Office telephoned each board member separately on Friday January 21, instructing them to take a unanimous board decision to appoint Dr. Abeysekara as the Acting GM at the next board meeting.

According to Section 5(5) of the CEB Act, it requires to submit ‘good and sufficient cause’ for the removal of a General Manager.

“Since there wasn’t any ‘good and sufficient cause’ to terminate the service of Dr. Susantha Perera, who was appointed as the Acting GM on January 15, 2022, the Board was compelled to find the way out to remove Dr. Perera from the aforesaid post. Hence the Board considered the directives of the President, the Minister and the Secretary Ministry of Power as the ‘sufficient and good cause’ for Dr. Susantha Perera’s removal,” the board member said.

“Through the CEB Act No: 17 of 1969, powers have been vested only on the Chairman and General Manager to take action against those who have breached the CEB disciplinary procedure. Once Dr. Abeysekara was appointed as the Acting GM after removing Dr. Susantha Perera, their next obstacle was Chairman M.C. Ferdinando. This was because the Chairman together with Dr. Susantha Perera, who was removed on the instruction of Lalith Weeratunga and WasanthaPerera, had taken steps to initiate disciplinary action against Dr. Abeysekara and the members of the EU for the sabotage. In order to stop disciplinary actions from being taken it is alleged that Ministry Secretary Wasantha Perera, who was occupying the post for the last two and a half years, harassed the experienced Chairman who has worked as the Ministry Secretary for several years. As a result Chairman Ferdinando had to tender his resignation with effect from February 1. The move to appoint Dr. Abeysekara and to make Chairman Ferdinando resign from the post was to sweep the power disruption matter under the carpet. Since the Chairman’s resignation is said to have not been accepted, the CEB employees are waiting to see how Ferdinando is going to take action against Dr. Abeysekara,” sources alleged.  

The move to appoint Dr. Abeysekara and to make Chairman Ferdinando resign from the post was to sweep the power disruption matter under the carpet

Eng. Dr. Abeysekara, who was the then AGM (Corporate Strategy), and a few other members of the EU were accused of their involvement in an incident where they have obstructed the CEB employees in the Welivita consumer service area in Sri Jayawardenapura zone from switching on the grid trip following the breakdown that occurred at 11.30pm on December 2, 2021. Due to this obstruction the entire area had to be kept in total darkness for six and a half hours, until 6 a.m. the following day. 

“There was a breakdown of the power supply in Welivita consumer service area in Sri Jayawardenapura zone on December 2, at 11.30 pm. Although the linesmen were able to rectify the fault in the distribution line within half an hour, Eng. Abeysekara and the members of the EU have allegedly obstructed the CEB employees’ attempt to switch on the grid trip by midnight. Hence the electricity connection could not be restored until 6 a.m. the following day- December 3. This was the time the CEB Engineers Union was staging a work- to- rule campaign which commenced on November 25. They further threatened to stay away from attending to any power failure that occurred after 5 pm. Although the breakdown was rectified within half an hour the engineers in charge of the area had not cooperated with the respective Electrical Superintendents,” a high-ranking CEB official told this newspaper.
According to the police complaint lodged by Chief Engineer (Business and Operational Strategy) Pradeep Manage, Chairman of the Electrical Superintendents’ (ES) Association Nishantha has called the GM and informed of the breakdown immediately.  As it took nearly six hours to restore the power supply, Nishantha has suspected sabotage.  

A copy of Manage’s complaint, which is in possession of this newspaper, states, ‘I am lodging this complaint on the directives of the GM and DGM (Business and Operational Strategy) regarding the power interruption that occurred to the 33kV line from Sapugaskanda to Sri Jayawardenapura around 11.30 p.m. on December 2, 2021. The affected area comes under Chief Engineer Sudantha Hewage. The interruption has been informed by ES in charge of the Control Centre, Suresh Jayamal to ES Welivita consumer service area, Asoka Dharshana. The latter has informed the interruption to Chief Engineer Sudantha Hewage who is in charge of Sri Jayawardenapura Zone.

Engineers weren’t cooperating

‘Hewage’s duty is to give instruction to his subordinates to rectify the fault. After informing Hewage, Asoka Dharshana has checked the affected lines, got the fault rectified and has tried to contact Hewage several times, but has failed during all his attempts. As Hewage could not be contacted, ES in charge of the Control Center, Suresh Jayamal has tried to contact Engineer Dulan Ranawaka but he too has not responded. Meanwhile a WhatsApp message has been sent to Deputy GM, Ramya Wanniaratchchi stating that the power supply can be restored to which she too has remained silent’. 

‘It was then revealed how one of the officers attached to the Control Center has put a note in the logbook asking not to rectify any breakdown without the permission of the Engineer in charge of Sri Jayawardenapura Zone Sudantha Hewage’.

“This evidence clearly shows that these Engineers were not cooperating with the CEB Management and have breached the CEB disciplinary procedure to which disciplinary action had to be taken either by Chairman or by the GM,” CEB sources said.  

 Meanwhile questions have been raised as to how Eng. Dr. Abeysekara when he was functioning as the AGM (Corporate Strategies), who is also one of the key accused of the sabotage, instructed Eng. W.F.M. Fernando DGM (Function Strategy & Process Development), to take disciplinary action against the officer who lodged the complaint, claiming, conducting an investigation into the power disruption was not under the purview of the complainant’s list of duties.

“By letter dated December 23, 2021, Abeysekara who was not authorised to take disciplinary action against any employee wrote to DGM (Function Strategy) to conduct a preliminary investigation and to submit the report within three weeks. Who authorised Abeysekara to instruct an officer to initiate an investigation because a complaint was lodged against him,” sources alleged.

Subsequent to the Minister’s second letter withdrawing Ranatunga’s extension, the latter filed an appeal in the Court of Appeal (CA/ Writ/ 02/ 2022) stating that a serious anomaly will be created if the GM- who is the senior- most Electrical Engineer in service- is required to retire at the age of 60, whilst other employees are permitted to serve the CEB until they reach the age of 62.

According to the petition Eng. Ranatunga claims that although the retirement age of public officers has been extended, the provisions of Sections 5(4) of the CEB Act have not been amended since 1969. In terms of the said Section, the GM of CEB should retire from office on reaching the age of 60.

Eng. Ranatunga has sought for a mandate in the nature of Writ of Certiorari, quashing the decision taken by Minister Lokuge purporting to revoke his previous approval to extend his term of office. Eng. Ranatunga has further sought for the mandate in the nature of Writ of Certiorari quashing the purported approval issued by the Minister to appoint the 12th Respondent- Dr. D.C.R. Abeysekara as the GM with effect from January 13, 2022.

Meanwhile. Eng. Abeysekara too has filed a separate Writ Application in Court of Appeal (No: 605/2021) claiming that he has a legitimate expectation to be appointed to the post of GM and that no extension of the term of office should be granted to Eng. Ranatunga of the instant application as he reaches the age of 60 years on January 13, 2022.

Issuing an interim order, the CA on January 11, 2022, directed the Board of Directors of CEB not to appoint a GM on a permanent basis upon the retirement of Eng. Ranatunga which was due the following day, until the date of the argument of the case. ‘This interim order will not impede or obstruct the powers of the Board of Directors of CEB to appoint a suitable person in terms of Section 5(1) of the CEB Act on temporary basis, enabling such appointment to be made permanent by the said Board subject to the final determination of this case’.

According to the CEB Director, as per the interim order of the CA, the Board of Directors of the CEB could have appointed either Eng. Ranatunga or Eng. Dr. Abeysekara to cover up the duties of the GM on a temporary basis, but decided not to, as both parties were respective petitioners in the ongoing case.

“On January 13, Minister Lokuge communicating over the phone with the Chairman suggested that Additional Secretary Ministry of Power, Dr. Susantha Perera should be considered for the GM post on a temporary basis. In the meantime, Secretary Ministry of Power Wasantha Perera recommended Mr. Wickremasinghe who is also an Additional Secretary to the Ministry to be considered for the post. Chairman Ferdinando was compelled to seek Minister Lokuge’s intervention as to whom to be appointed. The Minister recommended Dr. Susantha Perera as he was the most experienced and competent Electrical Engineer with wider exposure as GM of LECO, Additional General Manager CEB, and Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Power as CEB’s Acting GM. Since Dr. Susantha Perera too was in the opinion to take disciplinary actions against the CEBEU members who were involved in the sabotage, the Engineers Union went ahead with their work-to-rule campaign leaving behind the slogan to send Ranatunga on retirement after reaching 60 years of age, and agitating against the appointment of Dr. Perera,” sources added.     

According to the CEB employees, the attempt taken by the CCD and the Electricity Board, to take severe legal/ disciplinary action against those who were involved in the sabotage, has now come to a ‘natural death’.
Meanwhile, Eng. Abeysekara, told this newspaper a few days ago that he was not involved in any sabotage as stated in the complaint nor did threaten the complainant to withdraw the complaint.

“It is the System Control Center that attends to power failure and I am not in charge of this Unit. Restoring power is not within my purview and I came to know of this incident long after it occurred,” he said.