Justice Minister backs intake of Muslim students

By Ashwin Hemmathagama Our Lobby Correspondent

Eliminating doubts about the transparency of this year’s Sri Lanka Law College entrance examination and justifying the intake of 78 Muslim students who were “selected on merit basis,” Minister of Justice Rauf Hakeem delivered a ministerial statement yesterday in Parliament to defuse the tension building up between Council of Legal Education and “civil organisations, student movements, and a certain political party,” which he did not name.

According to Minister Hakeem, this year’s examination was also conducted by the Department of Examination excluding all possibilities for him to interfere at any stage.

“With the publishing of 2013 Law College entrance examination results several civil organisations and a political party has expressed views to media raising issues about the results and the examination procedures. They are in the process of organizing and conducting demonstrations and protests having joined hands with a few student movements. According to media reports, 78 Muslim students getting eligibility for this year’s entrance is an abnormal incident for these protestors. They also suspect the entrance examination and the procedure with finding 28 Muslim students among the first 50 admitted to the Sri Lanka Law College and the also the first three positions being secured by Muslim students.

“Initially they accused translators for leaking the entrance examination questions to the Muslim applicants. Being the Minister of Justice they accuse me of favouring Muslim students at the entrance examination as well as in the selection process. But the management and the operation of the Sri Lanka Law College are conducted by the Council of Legal Education, on which I have very limited involvement. The Chief Justice holds the Chairmanship of this Council and the other members includes a few judges from the Supreme Courts, the Solicitor General, the Attorney General, Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, and a nominee of the Minister of Justice. Since 2000, we have appointed the Examination Department to conduct the entrance examination, which is of high demand among Sri Lankans. The preparation of the entrance examination question paper, conducting of the examination, correction of the answer papers, and results providing is done according to the standards of the Examination Department,” clarified Minister Hakeem.