The United National Party (UNP) yesterday expressed concern on the recent fire that broke out at the Supreme Court complex on Tuesday (15).
"Noting that this building is the apex of the country’s judicial system and is situated in a high security zone, we ask the Government to conduct an immediate and transparent inquiry into the cause of this fire," the party said in a special statement.
"The SC complex is situated in a section of Colombo which is currently under lockdown, and court proceedings have been limited to only urgent cases with the absence of any public. As such, the Government must ascertain what led to the lapse in security which resulted in this fire," the statement said.
“The UNP is only concerned by the reports emerging regarding the location of the fire. Media quoted the Supreme Court fire had been confined to the basement of the complex. At the time the authorities had not been able to provide an update on the state of the Court record room which is situated in the basement. Subsequently the police have stated that no damage has been sustained by the records room. However, the party requests that a full inventory be taken of the records in the record room to ensure no files have gone missing" the statement added.
"Those who were responsible for the security of this complex must be held accountable. Prior to the handover of the Government in 2019 the UNP led Government was in the process of digitizing court records. The necessary systems had been procured and were awaiting implementation. We ask the Government whether they have continued this process, and if not to provide an explanation as to why they delayed this important task," the statement also said. (Yohan Perera)
