9 January 2020 12:01 am
By Nirmala Kannangara
The official telephone directory issued by the Attorney General’s Department for the year 2020 is said to have brought insult to those who hold senior positions there, claims a high-ranking Officer at the Attorney General’s Department.
According to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, placing a junior officer’s name who is one of the many State Counsels in the Department, ahead of other senior positions has raised eyebrows among those who hold senior positions.
Coordinating Officer to the AG, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne’s name has come up in the AG’s Department 2020 telephone directory ahead of other senior positions. This is said to have brought insult not only to those who hold the senior positions in the department but also to the once hallowed AG’s Department.
“This is the first time things of this nature are taking place in this department. First, the present AG got a new post created – Coordinating Officer to the Attorney General and offered it to Jayaratne who is one of his close friends.
The department has not followed any procedure to select Jayaratne to the post but solely based on AG’s friendship.
She was then allowed to issue press releases in regard to cases the AG’s Department represented. Now her name has come up well ahead of other senior positions. This has become a joke to all the officers but no one wants to comment on these issues,” sources added. The sources further said that by releasing the Coordinating Officer to the Attorney General, as the Acting Additional Secretary (Legal) to the President’s Office on December 5, 2019, on a part-time basis, in addition to her normal duties at the AG’s Department too has raised serious concern among the senior officers there.
“Being a junior State Counsel, how can Jayaratne carry out her duties simultaneously at the President’s Office and at the AG’s Department? It seems politics have entered the AG’s Department as well,” sources alleged.