Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
19 January 2018
Soul
Power of Sri Lankan Airlines
“SriLankan
Airlines said that contrary to popular belief, the Board of Directors of the
national carrier have taken all action possible to address the internal and
disciplinary issues highlighted in the J. C. Weliamuna Report.
Due to numerous News Paper articles and other
interested parties who have referred to the J.C. Weliamuna Report time and time
again, the airline today issued a response to “put things into perspective” and
clarifying the position of the actions taken by the Board of Directors of
SriLankan Airlines Limited.” - .adaderana.lk report -
All possible action taken based on Weliamuna Report: SriLankan Airlines
As
indicated previously, the problem with the structure that seems to have evaded
the Weliamuna team is lack of separation between Executive Power and Governance
Power in the Board. This is largely due to excessive use of direct
administrative power by those closely associated with the Government. This has
led to serious deterioration of standards towards the National Carrier becoming
another Government Department.
The
group of Government Representatives in the Board ought to be the parallel of Legislative Branch of the Government
and NOT interfere in direct Administration.
Recently
when advising in the relation to a Disciplinary issue in which a member of
staff of the University of Jaffna has filed a Fundamental Rights case, I
discovered Section 45 (2) (xii) which beautifully
presents the Independence value of Intellectuals
as follows:
45. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the
Council shall exercise the powers and perform and discharge the duties and
functions conferred or imposed on, or assigned to, the University.
(2)
Without prejudice to the generality of the
powers conferred upon it by subsection (1), the Council shall exercise, perform
and discharge the following powers, duties and functions:-
(xii)
to appoint persons to, and to suspend, dismiss or otherwise punish persons in
the employment of, the University:
Provided that, except in the case of Officers and teachers, these powers may be
delegated to the Vice-Chancellor;
In
other words, the Vice Chancellor (CEO) does not have the power to take
disciplinary actions against ‘Teachers & Officers’ who are also part of the
Representation of Intellectual Independence of a University and therefore are
part of Governance power at that level.
Like
in the case of Sri Lankan Airlines, in which the services of lawyer Mr J.C.
Weliamuna were hired, the authorities of the University of Jaffna has hired a
paid lawyer to represent the Governing Council. The problem with lawyers is
that they are driven by ‘winning’ . As per the above news report:
“The terms of reference of the Board of
Inquiry was to conduct a preliminary investigation and ascertain whether there
was prima facie evidence of abuse of power by the Board of Directors and the
Senior Management of SriLankan Airlines prior to the appointment of the current
Board, irregularities in the procurement/or leasing of Aircraft, whether due
process has been followed in the procurement of goods and services valued at
over Rs 25 MN and whether there have been external interferences adversely
affecting the smooth functioning of the Airline”
The
parallel of the above in the case of the University was that the Vice Chancellor wrote
to two senior academics comprising the advising them of their appointment by
the Council - as the Preliminary investigating team to look into allegations
against the Defendant and asking them to submit their report, clearly
indicating whether there existed a prima facie case in order to frame charges
against the Defendant. It said 'You
are kindly requested to investigate into the complaints and submit your report
clearly indicating whether there exists prima facie case in order to frame
charges against the Defendant ‘.You may
also please get the written confirmation from the complainants on the reported
facts by them'. By this time the Defendant was already interdicted.
In
both cases the Inquiry team’s work needed to be limited to finding whether or
not there existed a Prima Facie case on the face of the evidence available. But
in both cases - this seems to justify
the decision already made by the custodians of power. In both instances
staff (and students in the case of the
University) were invited to have their say. Those who are politically driven
would tend to sway with the powers that seem strong at that time.
In
psychology, they say that in answering multiple-choice questions, the first one
that the student identifies with is the right one for that student. Once an Medical
Academic of the University of NSW said this about recruiting for an Academic
position – that he and the other academic ‘saw’ and they knew. That is also the
case with Governance decisions.
The
two Chancellors of the University of NSW did identify with my value and
expressly shared it through their position. Others with ownership power will
identify with that common heritage. In today’s contribution to Australian Hindu
community I included the following in this regard:
‘A home is where our common values
are naturally shared through self-governance by each part. The place where Lord Muruga’s Ther / Chariot is pulled with
faith - becomes sacred and like all
faiths – gives the person with faith a head start in Globalization through
which the whole world becomes our Home. The current generation that completes
the journey in Australia, develops
global heritage that would support generations to come.’
To
my mind, Sri Lankan Airlines with peacock logo is the vehicle of Lord Murugan. Given
that majority shareholding in Sri Lankan Airlines is the Sri Lankan Public –
all those who believe in Lord Murugan would naturally influence Governance
outcomes and to the extent this power is stronger than the Administrative /
Executive power - Sri Lankan Airlines would represent Sri Lanka and therefore
is wholesome.
Colombo Telegraph reported recently as follows on
this matter under the heading - SriLankan Airlines: Chairman Dias And
Director Board Have Not Resigned – Confirms PM’s Office:
“According to
sources close to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office it can be
confirmed that Chairman Ajith Dias had met up with his Board of Directors in
mid December and informed them that due to the restructuring process the
airline was going though it may be evident that a new Board of Directors be
reconstituted. At this meeting Chairman Ajith Dias and his Directors agreed to
submit a letter on the 21st of December 2017 to the Ministerial Committee
informing them of their willingness to resign. However at this meeting Board
Director Harendra Balapatabendi refused to agree to the decision taken by the
rest of the Board of Directors and instructed that his name not be included in
the letter. According to Premier Wickeremesinghe’s office sources the letter
received on the 21st of December 2017, was only tabled at the concluded
Ministerial Committee meeting held last Wednesday…..”
It
is interesting that Mr Harendra
Balapatabendi refused to accept the
decision made by another. He demonstrated Independence and true Governance and
therefore represents all of us who contribute to the Independence of the
National carrier.
No comments:
Post a Comment