President appoints new Chairman to Central Environment Authority

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana   

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed a new Chairman to the Central Environment Authority (CEA) with effect from July 30th and the reason for the sudden removal of the incumbent Chairman Venura Fernando has not been stated, the CEA unions said.   

A letter stating appointment of U.D.Chandana Jayalal as the new CEA Chairman as undersigned by the Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake had been copied to several officials including Secretary to the Ministry of Environment and Director General CEA yesterday.   

A collective of five trade unions attached to the CEA said that they strongly oppose the removal of the incumbent Chairperson Venura Fernando, who was an honest official who even did not claim his salary.   

The unions claimed that the removal of the previous chairman was questionable when an election had been declared in the country and that they had brought the matter to the notice of the Election Commission and the independent monitoring body PAFFREL.   

A union spokesperson said that they will have a special discussion today regarding the matter as a number of CEA employees are disheartened by the sudden removal of their chairman.  

When contacted, Chairman Election Commission R.A.M.L. Rathnayake told the Daily Mirror that the appointment and transfers of the state officials for service requirements or disciplinary action is not prohibited during an election period.   

“However, one can always complain to the commission if they suspect the appointment or transfer was due to a political reason,” Rathnayake said.   

However, sources within the Ministry of Environment stated that there was an audit query underway against a board decision taken by the CEA to increase salaries by Rs.10, 000 for its staff members recently.