Court halts Cabinet approval for purchase of 750,000 N-Series Passports from two companies

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda

The Court of Appeal yesterday issued an interim order suspending the operation of a Cabinet decision granting approval to purchase 750,000 N-Series Passports from two companies as part of the initial procurement for the supply of five million e-Passports.  

Court of Appeal Justice Mohammed Laffar made this order pursuant to a writ petition filed by Epic Lanka (Pvt) Ltd and its Executive Chairman alleging that it is a corrupt deal that violates the tender procedure. This order will be effective until October 1.  

In its application, Epic Lanka alleged that Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to procure 750,000 Nos. of Machine Readable Passports from Thales DIS Finland OY and Just In Time Technologies (Pvt) Ltd outside of the proper procurement procedure, circumventing the National Procurement Guidelines. The petitioners further alleged that the National Procurement Commission has also acknowledged in writing that the procurement had irregularities.  

The Petitioners state that the Cabinet of Ministers, at its meeting held on September 02, 2024, has decided to grant approval to purchase 750,000 N-Series Passports from Thales DIS Finland OY and Just In Time Technologies (Pvt) Ltd.  

The petitioners have cited Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security, Former Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles, Controller General of Immigration and Emigration, Cabinet of Ministers and several others as respondents.  

The petitioner stated that it provides Digital Transformation, e-Government, Workflow Management, Secure Electronic Payment Automation, Information Systems Security, and Mobile Enterprise Automation Solutions in Sri Lanka.  
Viran Corea PC with Pramod Perera and Hiruni De Almeida instructed by Neelakandan & Neelakandan appeared for the petitioners. State Counsel Maithri Amerasinghe Jayatilake appeared for the Attorney General.