{"id":185790,"date":"2017-12-23T22:13:41","date_gmt":"2017-12-23T16:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=185790"},"modified":"2017-12-24T15:26:22","modified_gmt":"2017-12-24T09:56:22","slug":"rti-commission-to-inquire-into-srilankan-airlines-in-public-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rti-commission-to-inquire-into-srilankan-airlines-in-public-interest\/","title":{"rendered":"RTI Commission To Inquire Into SriLankan Airlines \u2018In Public Interest\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Strongly rejecting the decision by Sri Lankan Airlines Chairman Ajith Dias<\/a> not to give information on salaries and other financial benefits to the top executive officers of SriLankan<\/a> in terms of the Right to Information<\/a> (RTI) Act, the Sri Lanka Pilots Guild has filed an appeal to the RTI Commission asking that the information be released in the public interest. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dias and Ratwatte<\/p><\/div>\n

Earlier this month, six trade unions blasted Dias<\/a> asking how the requested information could be refused on the basis that it was \u2018confidential\u2019 or of a \u2018personal nature\u2019 when \u2018it has contributed to the accumulated debt\u2019 that Dias has now declared publicly, may result in the airlines going bankrupt, resulting in \u2018a potential loss of employment of nearly 7,000 individuals.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n

Observers describe Dias\u2019 shocking letter as a shrewd move calculated at scaring the unions and employees of SriLankan to \u2018knuckle down\u2019 under the directions of the top management. That tactic has now failed, they say. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The country\u2019s airline became a loss-making enterprise in the time of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, but the unity alliance government of Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe has, despite promises by its top ministers that it will \u2018turn the airline around\u2019, failed to improve the situation. Instead SriLankan Airlines was kept afloat by public funds from the Treasury coming from taxes collected from citizens. Millions were doled out by the Treasury in equity investments as approved by the Cabinet. <\/span><\/p>\n

Unions allege that the Government\u2019s appointees to the Board of Directors and the Chairman lack the necessary skills to rescue the airline from its financially\u00a0<\/span>unstable state and that they have further aggravated the airline’s financial woes by using it as their personal property and awarding their favourites to the executive ranks, massive salaries and other benefits. Though the Government promised to take action in regard to the allegations, nothing was done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The RTI appeal filed by the Pilots Guild had asked for all information related to and\/or connected to the cost of personal flying training for the A320 jet conversion borne by SriLankan Airlines Limited and\/or any party for the CEO Suren Ratwatte<\/a>. It has also asked for the salaries and other benefits enjoyed by the CEO, the Head of Human Resources (HHR) and the Chief Commercial Officer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Further, the appeal asked for information (including profits and losses) suffered as a result of the agreement between Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Sri Lankan Airlines Limited and information on the cancellation of the order of the Airbus A350 Aircraft.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Colombo Telegraph<\/i>\u00a0was informed by the Guild that the appeal hearing is due to take place before the RTI Commission in early January 2018 with the Commission calling for comprehensive written submissions by both parties in relation to the matter. <\/span><\/p>\n

Related Posts:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

SriLankan Airlines: Marching Orders Served To Chairman Dias, CEO Ratwatte And Directors By Airline’s Alliance Of Unions<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SriLankan Airlines: Chairman Dias Is A Blatant Liar \u2013 Pilot Guild<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":185792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nRTI Commission To Inquire Into SriLankan Airlines \u2018In Public Interest\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rti-commission-to-inquire-into-srilankan-airlines-in-public-interest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RTI Commission To Inquire Into SriLankan Airlines \u2018In Public Interest\u2019 - 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