Parliament Committee recommends Govt. takeover of controversial Batticaloa Campus

• Oversight Committee says campus should be taken over under Emergency regulations
• Says monies received by it in violation of financial regulations 
• Forcible acquisition of crown land has taken place
• Ex-Governor Hizbullah acted in violation of financial, other laws
• Says legal actions should be pursued against all culprits 
• Says campus buildings/resources should be given over to Eastern University

By Chandani Kirinde 

 A Parliamentary Oversight Committee recommended yesterday that the controversial Batticaloa Campus Ltd. should be acquired by the Government under emergency regulations.

“Considering the security situation of the country, monies received by the institution, unlawful constructions, forcible acquisitions of crown lands found to be illegal, the Committee unanimously recommends the Government to acquire them under  emergency rule (as dealt with the North Colombo Medical College) and to pursue legal action against all culprits.” 

The Committee said in its report which was presented to Parliament by Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education and Human Resource Development Chairman UNP MP Ashu Marasinghe. 

He said the Committee recommends that the campus buildings/resources be given over to Eastern University.

The Committee, in its 15 recommendations, has requested to conduct a forensic audit with respect of all monetary transactions of the Batticaloa Campus through the National Audit Office.

The Committee investigations reveal that the education institution has not obtained any special permission from the Exchange Controller when securing a sum of Rs. 3.6 billion loan from a foreign lender as per prevailing exchange provisions. It observes that the grant or the loan obtained by the education institution is possibly a violation of exchange rules of the country.

Accordingly, the Committee recommends conducting a diplomatic level investigation into the serious financial crimes with the support of Saudi Arabian Embassy in Sri Lanka through Foreign Ministry, Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), CID, and FCID of Sri Lanka.

“This Committee went on questioning how these funds were received and also questioned Hiras Hizbullah, sitting Chairman of this institute when he testified at the Parliamentary Committee on 14. 03. 2019. There he had stated that money had given as a grant but he failed to submit any document to our Committee to prove such receipt,” the Committee report said.

It further stated that at a later stage of the investigation, Campus former Chairman M.L.A.M. Hizbullah declared that “money had been received as a loan”. He has also stated that the documents pertaining to the loan were already submitted.

Referring to the involvement of former Eastern Province Governor Hizbullah in the establishment of the campus, the Committee observed that there seems to be a conflict of interest in relation to the signing of the agreements. 

The reports said: “Signing agreements with the Dullas Alahapperuma as the Minister in charge for Government and M.L.A.M. Hizbullah, the then MP and Chairman of Sri Lanka Hira Foundation on 15.08. 2013 seems to be a Conflict of Interest. The view of the Committee is to not sign private agreements by MPs with the Government.” 

The Committee has also observed that there is a serious issue in relation to the acquisition of lands belonging to Mahaweli Authority for this Campus. Accordingly, the Committee recommends that the Government should recheck correct land area of this education institute for verification, considering that it seemed the institute had extended its land beyond the 35 acres it was granted by Mahaweli Authority.

The campus which had maintained its name as ‘University College Batticaloa’, had not got itself registered under the Companies Act when it requested the Higher Education Ministry to consider it as a Higher Education institute. 

The Committee stated that “using the name of ‘University’” as done for private higher education centres is not consistent with the Act and it is the view of the Committee that the use of the name University for a private educational institute should not be done.

The Committee observed that the objective of the education institute is distrustful and pointed out: “In investigating into document related to this institute, it is suspicious about the main aim of establishing this institute, as to creating Ulama on Sharia law or Islam by mentioning Bachelor of Arts in Sharia and Islamic Studies.”

The report includes observations made on the Batticaloa Campus by several government institutions including the Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission, Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka, the Board of Investment, CBSL and the National Secretariat for Non-Government Organizations. 

The Committee report will be referred to Cabinet following the tabling in Parliament. The Committee requests for a debate on its report in Parliament as well.