President took over SLRC to resolve issues: Dayasiri

 SLFP General Secretary MP Dayasiri Jayasekara told a news briefing at the party headquarters that the decisions taken by Non-Cabinet Mass Media and State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene to appoint a new SLRC Chairman was done without the approval of a special Committee set up at the Presidential Secretariat to look into appointments to state media.

According to Jayasekera, this Committee was tasked with reviewing heads of State institutions.

“The previous SLRC Chairman Inoka Sathyangani was appointed with the approval of the Committee. However, Minister Wijewardene sent a letter requesting to appoint someone else as SLRC Chairman and that name was rejected by the Committee. As a result of that the previous Chairman continued to occupy the position,” the MP said.

Jayasekara further observed that Wijewardene had appointed a new Chairman without the approval of the Committee set up at the Presidential Secretariat. He claimed that the appointment led to internal conflict at the SLRC.

“Minister Wijewardene appointed Local Government representatives as Board members. That also was a reason for the internal conflict at SLRC. There was an incident when two people claimed the position.Considering all these circumstances, the President decided to bring SLRC under the purview of the Defence Ministry,” the SLFP General Secretary added.