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2025-06-06

News Categories : Committee News 

COPE recommends the appointment of an independent investigation committee to investigate all corruption and irregularities that have emerged at the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka

  • Do not involve any official from the current governing authority in the relevant committee – COPE
  • The Committee's attention drawn to the incident of Charith Dilshan, a student who committed suicide while studying in his second year at the university.
  • In 2022, a local council member was granted permission to excavate 500 cubic meters of soil from the university grounds for free.
  • About 7,000 out of the students who gain university admissions do not register on the first attempt - Secretary of the University Grants Commission

 

The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has recommended the appointment of an independent investigation committee to examine all corruption and irregularities prevailing at the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. Instructions were given to the Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Education to appoint the said investigation committee without involving any officials of the current administrative authority and to conduct and complete the relevant investigations as soon as possible.

This was discussed during the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) held on the June 4th at the Parliament under the chairmanship of Hon. Member of Parliament (Dr.) Nishantha Samaraweera for the purpose of examining the Auditor General’s report and the current performance of the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka for the financial year 2023.

Furthermore, the incident involving Charith Dilshan, a student who committed suicide while studying in his second year at the university, was also discussed extensively in the committee. During this discussion, the Marshal of the university expressing his views regarding the New Year celebrations organized at the university, which allegedly contributed to the incident, stated that he was not informed about the event by the administration. He also stated that approval for the event was granted without following proper procedures. Furthermore, the Marshal also mentioned that he had informed the administration in writing about possible outcomes that could arise in student hostels. Accordingly, the committee chair pointed out that it appears there have been lapses in supervision regarding student activities by the administration. Consequently, the committee instructed ministry officials to conduct an effective and independent investigation into this incident as well.

The committee also discussed an incident where, in 2022, approval was granted for a contractor to excavate 500 cubes of soil free of charge from the university premises upon the request of a local council member of the Imbulpe Pradeshiya Sabha. Although internal approval had been granted by the administration to remove the soil, university officials stated that, upon realizing the mistake, no official approval was subsequently given to the contractor. However, it was revealed during the committee that even though the university’s security division had informed the administration about the removal of soil by the said contractor on 19.10.2022, the university administration had only filed a police complaint regarding the incident in 2024.

The committee also discussed the matter concerning the registration of students for courses at the university. Officials stated that, on average, around 7,000 students who receive university admission yearly do not register in the first round. However, they pointed out that the vacancies are filled after conducting several rounds of registration. Accordingly, the committee chair emphasized the importance of focusing attention on strengthening the state university system.

Furthermore, although over Rs. 123 million had been spent in 2014 for the construction of the university's sports ground and gymnasium, several issues had arisen such as water stagnation on the playground, surface roughness due to erosion of mixed soil, and cracking of side embankments, according to the Auditor General's Department. Based on a previous COPE recommendation, although the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB) had renovated the side embankments and gymnasium and handed them over to the university, the Auditor General pointed out that the sports ground had not been properly accepted and maintained by the university. As a result, it was revealed during the committee that students faced significant difficulties in using the playground due to water stagnation and surface roughness.

When questioned about this, the university administration pointed out that due to the physical location of the area, termite mounds appear in places on the playground.

Commenting on this, the committee chair questioned the lack of a designated person responsible for maintaining the sports ground. He also inquired into the fact that, despite the magnitude of the project, no permanent engineer had been appointed for supervision, and instead, a project engineer was used for such duties, which was also highlighted by the Auditor General. In response, the university’s project engineer stated that the responsibility had not been assigned to him by the Vice Chancellor. However, it was revealed in the committee that, at one point, the sports ground maintenance had been handed over to the cleaning division, and at present, it is under the care of the sports division.

It was also disclosed that during the construction of a housing complex for university staff, more than Rs. 2.6 million had been paid to the contractor based on the certification of the project engineer, despite the contractor not having requested the amount.

Additionally, in the construction of the university’s new library building, it was disclosed that the contractor had abandoned the contract work midway, and since the performance bond was not encashed, a loss of more than Rs. 28.8 million had been incurred. Although a surcharge notice had been issued for this loss, it had not yet been recovered.

However, to prevent such situations from recurring, arrangements had been made to recruit a project manager to systematically supervise all construction projects. However, the said individual had resigned after serving for less than four months. The committee extensively discussed that he had resigned due to not receiving the requested service facilities.

Hon. Members of Parliament Dayasiri Jayasekara, Attorney at Law, M.K.M. Aslam, Samanmali Gunasingha, Sudath Balagalla, Jagath Manuwarna, Ruwan Mapalagama, Asitha Niroshana Egoda Vithana, (Dr.) Pathmanathan Sathiyalingam, Thilina Samarakoon, Chandima Hettiarachchi, Dinesh Hemanta, and Lakmali Hemachandra, Attorney at Law were present at this COPE meeting held.



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