The Parliament Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education and Human Resources Development has decided to submit its report on the controversial University of Batticaloa or Batticaloa Campus (Pvt) Ltd to the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Cabinet of Ministers.
The Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education and Human Resources Development chaired by parliamentarian Prof. Ashu Marasinghe made this decision when the committee met Friday (20) at the parliamentary Complex.
The Committee presented its report on Batticaloa Campus (Private) Limited to the Parliament on 21st June 2019. Subsequently it was presented to the Cabinet of Ministers of the then government.
The Committee in its report confirmed that considering the security situation, the Batticaloa Campus (Private) Limited has illegally acquired money, illegally conducted unauthorized constructions and forcibly taken over state land.
The Committee recommended the government to immediately take over the controversial Batticaloa Campus under provisions of emergency regulations and immediate legal action against all wrongdoers regardless of their status.
The Sectoral Oversight Committee, during its inquiry for information about Batticaloa Campus (Pvt) Ltd and its other institutions and companies, has conducted an inquiry into the activities of the institute’s funds source Sri Lanka Hiras Foundation since 1993.
The Committer has found that the foundation in seven occasions has received Rs. 3.6 billion, which is not clear as grants or loans to build the institute.
The Committee, when checking the documents related to this institution, in its observations raised suspicion that one of the main objectives of the institute is to create Sharia law or Islamic Ulamas as according to the information submitted to the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Higher Education, the institute has been listed as granting degrees in Bachelor of Arts in Sharia and Islamic Studies.
Further, the Committee notes that the architectural features and symbols of all the buildings of the Batticaloa Campus (Pvt) Ltd belong to the Islamic religion and the Arabic architecture and its landscaping has created an Arabic atmosphere in the area.
The Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education and Human Resources Development among others has recommended that considering the prevailing problems in Sri Lanka, it should not be allowed to establish institutions that teach sharia law or fundamentalist religion as it is a threat to the national security of the country.
Prof. Ashu Marasinghe chairs the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education and Human Resources Development and its members are MP Sujith Sanjaya Perera, MP Mujibur Rahman, MP Anganjan Ramanathan, MP Wijayapala Hettiarachchi and MP Rohini Kumari Wijeratne.
Courtesy: Colombo Page
