The Sri Lankan government is being sharply criticised for giving the court of appeal in Colombo authority to hear cases involving development projects.
ENVIRONMENTALISTS and
civil rights lawyers strongly
oppose the Sri iLankan government's move to shift jurisdiction
of all cases involving projects
approved by, the Board of
Investments (BOI) from district
courts to the court of appeal in
Colombo.
This means that a person
may no longer petition a district
court for an injunction to restrain
the developer of a development
project that could harm the environment.
"Rural people have now lost
this easy and convenient right of
redress," says Nalin Laddu-
wahet@y, a lawyer representing
the Mihikatha Institute, a Sri
Lankan NGO. "As far as most
people are concerned, this is as
good as removing the right of
petitioning altogether."
The decision to shift jurisdiction, taken under the
emergency
regulations in force in late 1992,
is part of the government's drive to
make Sri Lanka a newly industrialised country (NIC) by 2000, by
boosting domestic industry and
attractini foreign investors. As part
of the drive to encourage industrialists to take advantage of the cheap,
highly literate and skilled labour
available in the island republic,
export-oriented industries are being
given unprecedented concessions.
Environmentalists contend this
includes relaxation of environmental
safeguards. They say the shift was
decided in the wake-of the controversy Involving the five-star Kandalama
hotel, which was to be built by a private company within the catchment
area of the historic Kandalama tank
in Central Province. Area residents,
supported by environmentalists,
political parties and the country's
ubiquitous monks, contended the
hotel would destroy the catchment
area, pollute tank water and damage
wildlife, the culture of local communities and availability of irrigation
water.
Faced by the possibility that
some residents might petition the
district court in Matale against the
Kandalama project, the governmeht
acted in August 1992 to forestall any
such attempt -by shifting jurisdiction
to the court of appeal in Colombo.
"We feel that the two issues were
dernanstrutors protesting
som"ehow linked. Otherwise, why
should the government rush to introduce these changes using the emergefcy powers?" asked Ladduwahetty.
Many NGOs, professional bodies
and civil rights lawyers have pointed
out that shifting jurisdiction handicaps the poor, who do not have the
resources to seek redress in faraway
Colombo. Besides, they say, the
change will add to the backlog of
cases pending in the court of appeal.
Nevertheless, there are some
NGOs who say in private they prefer
the new arrangement. Says one legal
academic, the prospect of working in
a centrally located court may be more
convenient and lawyers also may be
more at ease dealing with points of
law, which is the main concern of
the court of appeal. District courts
also take into consideration complex
issues that are characteristic of environmental cases.
Opponents of the government's
move have one small consolation. As
the move w&s niade under emergency
regulations, it will lapse with
the lifting of emergency. But in
embattled Sri Lanka, that could take
a long time.
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