CAA’s ED writes to President alleging political interference over new Litro Gas cylinder

The Litro Gas 18L Hybrid domestic gas cylinder that has run into controversy

• Alleges Litro Gas in violation of section 8 and section 10 (4) of the Consumer Affairs Authority Act No. 9 of 2003
• Charges attempts made to remove him from position by Ministers Lasantha Alagiyawanna and Bandula Gunawardene

Following is the text of the letter sent to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by Consumer Affairs Authority of 

Sri Lanka (CAA) Fulltime Member and Executive Director Thushan Gunawardena in relation to political interference over the Litro Gas 

18-litre hybrid domestic gas cylinder

Political interference in the Consumer Affairs Authority and Litro Gas scandal

 

I am writing to you apprise you of the current situation surrounding the Litro Gas company’s introduction of the so-called 18L Hybrid domestic gas cylinder that has run into controversy and has become an embarrassment to Litro Gas company, CAA as the regulator and the Government.

The Litro Gas company management’s utterly irresponsible, fraudulent, extremely disruptive, and unjust behaviour at a time of economic hardship is noted with absolute disgust and the company’s scant regard for the country’s regulatory framework, writing to CAA and falsely claiming it’s a new pack, and additional stock to the existing product range with the objective of misleading the regulator (please see exhibit 1), mocking the intelligence of the average citizens as well as the Government is extremely worrisome and warrants immediate intervention by Your Excellency’s office as this will set a new precedence to other companies that may want to avoid regulation, paralysing institutions such as the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA).

With the introduction of the 18L gas cylinder, the company is in violation of section 8 and section 10 (4) of the Consumer Affairs Authority Act No. 9 of 2003. Section 10 (4) draws reference to tampering, erasing of labels, descriptions, markings, etc., which we have observed on the sample 18L cylinder that was collected from the market. The CAA is well within its right to institute immediate legal action against the said company under section 31 which is referenced below; and I quote:

Section 31. Any trader who, in the course of a trade or business, in connection with the supply or possible supply of goods or services or in connection with the promotion by any means of the supply or use of goods or services— (a) falsely represents that goods or services are of a particular standard, quality or grade, or that goods are of a particular style or model ; (b) falsely represents that goods are new ; (c) represents that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, performance, characteristics accessories, uses or benefits they do not have ; (d) represents that such trader has a sponsorship approval or affiliation he does not have ; (e) makes false or misleading statements concerning the existence of, or amounts of price reduction or price increase ; (f) makes false or misleading statements concerning the need for any goods, services, replacements or repairs ; or (g) makes false or misleading statements concerning the existence or effect of any warranty or guarantee, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act “ Unquote.

I would further like to draw Your Excellency’s attention to the interview given to Hiru TV on 29 April 2021 by the Chairman of Litro Gas publicly indicating that they are collaborating, coordinating with LAUGFS Gas to position the 18L gas cylinder in the market. This demonstrates utter ignorance to regulatory compliance and regulatory obligations and completely violates section 8 of the Consumer Affairs Authority Act No. 9 of 2003, where reference is specifically drawn to restrictive agreements, arrangements, dominant position among enterprises since these two companies are the only suppliers of LPG and viewed as holding a dominant position in the market and therefore any corroboration between these companies as suggested by the Litro Chairman is a manipulation for price fixing and is an offence under the CAA Act.

The red herrings in this interview about the 18L cylinder purposefully falsifying information without scientific proof pertaining to the butane and propane composition apparently reducing cooking time is horrendous and is damaging the reputation of this Government institution. Further, the false representations made by Litro gas stating high capacity, high performance and/or superior to the existing 12.5 kg product has been debunked by experts from Moratuwa University and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (reference Hon State Minister Alagiyawanna’s press conference) and further by experts in the chemical engineering field. 

It is unfortunate to note that we the CAA are compelled to institute legal action against small individual businesses and businesses with less influence, however when a company like Litro must be confronted we have taken a very softer approach by reprimanding them instead of instituting legal action against the perpetrators which may be viewed as applying the law selectively. 

This goes against Your Excellency’s vision and principles enshrined in the policy document ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’ (Saubagyaye Dekma), where reference is drawn to Government institutions working independently free from political interference and regulatory bodies like the CAA to uphold the law equally to every citizen without discrimination and or bias.

I therefore would request Your Excellency’s intervention so that we are able to execute our duties to the fullest without politicians interfering to manipulate the core functions of the CAA as there were various attempts made to remove me from the position of Fulltime Member by Ministers Lasantha Alagiyawanna and Bandula Gunawardene simply for resisting their interventions on several occasions that would have brought irreparable damage to Government policies and disrepute to Your Excellency’s vision.

I would also sincerely hope that your intervention will enable us to fulfil our duties as a regulator and help the broader vision Your Excellency has for the country and to eliminate corruption from the Government institutions.