{"id":248193,"date":"2026-07-24T23:43:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T18:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=248193"},"modified":"2026-07-24T23:43:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T18:13:37","slug":"ownership-of-the-public-interest-being-engaged-in-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ownership-of-the-public-interest-being-engaged-in-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Ownership Of The Public Interest & Being Engaged In Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

By S. Ratnajeeevan H. Hoole<\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"

Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole<\/p><\/div>\n

Being Engaged in the Public Interest<\/b><\/p>\n

When our Chemmany Road in Nallur was being redone by the Jaffna Municipality, they first brought rock metal and lined up the street every few yards shaped like triangular prisms (i.e., like Toblerone Chocolate Bars). Some local residents stole them for making concrete blocks for their houses. My father, the Rev. R.H.R. Hoole, gently told them it is wrong, and as a sympathetic crowd gathered, the rock-metal was off-loaded and the persons involved respectfully went away. Similarly, my uncle K. Nesiah down Somasundaram Lane (named after my grandfather The Rev. Canon S.S. Somsundaram) in Chundikuli would in the mornings advise those who wastefully use the tap water from the municipality and point out to street-sweepers the parts of the street they had missed cleaning. Some would maliciously ask \u201cWhy this work for him?\u201d, but he was undeterred.<\/p>\n

These are examples of being engaged with our own interests. However, in today\u2019s society, many would resist such interventions for the public good because the government and its ministers are crooks and are unable to lead by example.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I am still hopeful, based on big people being charged and sent to jail for the first time by our government, that we are turning the corner. I look for a new dawn.<\/p>\n

Guesthouse on Sagara Road<\/b><\/p>\n

Ours is a corrupt society, the corruption increasingly expanded because we are neither engaged nor encouraged to be engaged. For example, a long time back, 2 doors away from me in Bambalapitiya\u2019s Sagara Road, was a guest house run by the PLOTE. It was used by regular guests as well as for nefarious activities. One night, bottles came flying out of the guest house onto the road. They were aimed at a man fleeing the place. He was apprehended by the guesthouse owners and being assaulted brutally even as he shouted \u201cAiyo, Yesuvey.\u201d The Jesuit Chapel Nirmala, my neighbour on the land-side, shut its gates as did all our neighbours. I felt I could not be disengaged after his appeal to God, so I went out. I told the guesthouse-keeper he could not assault a person like that. He explained that the man had arrived from Saudi Arabia, used the service of a girl before going home in the North, and then was trying to run away without paying. I then advised him to hand the man over to the police who at the time came regularly to the guesthouse for drinks. It was felt that the assault was better (lesser) punishment than being charged, and the delay as he faced the courts and ruined his vacation. And how much could one expect from the police who came for free drinks?\u00a0 <\/span>So they took the man into the guest house. As I heard later from common friends, the assault continued inside and he was released.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Engagement, the Police and the Court System<\/b><\/p>\n

Three issues should concern us. One, the disengagement from the public in matters of concern to us, the public. Two, the reliability of the police and trustworthiness in carrying out their duties. And three, the judicial system.<\/p>\n

As for the first, generally we think it unwise to poke our nose into public matters. When I went to the street to intervene with the visitor at the PLOTE guest house, I was held back by the family, and the incident is still used to tell friends how foolish and irresponsible I am. During the LTTE period, few dared to advise the LTTE about their foolishness, nay their ghastliness. People who got the works from the LTTE for telling them they are wrong or for writing reports on their iniquities, met only the remark \u201cThey asked for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is routine when we are openly asked for a bribe for an accelerated electricity connection for example, we pay rather than report it \u2013 saying it is not our job to clean up the system at the cost of going without lights. An interesting bypass is to get agents to do the dirty work, telling ourselves that we did not pay a bribe. The bribe in our minds is a necessary fee. Reporting such solicitation is also discouraged saying such reporting will cause an attack by those we report. There was a District Judge in Trinco who solicited bribes in the form of money and sexual services. People never reported him saying he had the power to rule against us in the relevant case. The system considers it interference with justice to dissect his reasoning behind his punitive judgement. Our recourse is an expensive appeal.<\/p>\n

The judicial system favours the rich. When a charge is filed, the accused is remanded pending inquiry when \u2013 a)\u00a0 <\/span>it is a nonbailable offence like murder, organized crime or a major drug offence;\u00a0 <\/span>b) releasing the accused will obstruct ongoing investigations such as a man who assaulted his wife being able to threaten her should she give evidence; and c) there is a risk of flight by the accused, especially when there is a failure to furnish bail. The latter is a burden on the poor and many of those killed in the Negombo prison were likely in this category.<\/p>\n

In my own case when the EPDP accused me of angering the Kayts electorate by making false accusations questioning the EPDP\u2019s electoral performance and thereby fomenting a riot, I was remanded and then released on bail pending judicial inquiry. Fortunately,\u00a0 <\/span>I had been warned of the process and had reported to court with my brother and daughter who stood as sureties and I was released.\u00a0 <\/span>Each stood surety for R. 100,000 in lieu of bail money. In the alternative, I would have had to have\u00a0 <\/span>Rs. 200,000 cash. Few would carry such money and would be locked up till the money was produced. The poor would not have credible members of society to stand as surety for them.<\/p>\n

The police are easily bought and were with the EPDP. For three years they came to court and said they needed more time for their inquiries. Finally, the judge threw out the case saying he had not seen any sign of any inquiry, and he did not believe there was any going on.<\/p>\n

At Maviddapuram when I raised the All Ceylon Tamil Congress holding election meetings on Temple premises in violation of election laws, the ACTC accused me of being an agent of the TNA. As reported by K. Sivapakiam<\/a>,\u00a0 <\/span>when the EC\u2019s complaint was the violation of Section 82 of the Local Authorities Election Ordinance about campaigning at a religious assembly, the police charge-sheet was the far less serious violation of Section 81 about campaigning close to a polling station.\u00a0When this discrepancy was pointed out, the police chose to charge the temple priest rather than the ACTC. There was little chance that the priest would be punished.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The OIC at the Mallakam Magistrate\u2019s Court declared in court that I had been served with summons, and the highly strung magistrate wrote rather indiscreet letters asking for my removal from the Elections Commission. He said that because I am a Christian I should not have complained against the Hindu priest. I naturally wonder how he as a Christian finds many Hindus guilty. His thinking is emphatically asinine.<\/p>\n

It seems that the ACTC has the police as its pawns in their palm. And this particular magistrate too.<\/p>\n

When I complained to the Judicial Service Commission, the inquiry report by the JSC\u2019s Inspector Samanthilake found that I had not been served any summons as claimed by the OIC. The JSC suppressed the report by its own investigative officer. There has been no reply to my numerous reminders. This corruption reaches the Chief Justice who heads the JSC. That rotten Mallakam magistrate was recently promoted to the high court by the JSC. Now we may expect the same stupidity about Christian officials not finding fault with Hindus from the High Court. Perhaps it is the same low IQ reasoning that led to the JSC promoting A. Judeson (District Court to High Court) because he is a Tamil Christian and should not be faulted by a largely Buddhist JSC.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the one-time mayor of Jaffna, Viswalingam Manivannan threatened publicly to launch attacks on me. The Election Commission in its cowardly way called it a private matter and I had to get my own lawyer. The Jaffna police asked me for the speech on 5 CDs and held on to them. Two years later, the Magistrate disappeared on a date for inquiry. The nondescript juvenile court judge appearing as Acting Magistrate (who customarily sets a new date without taking any substantive decision) threw out the CDs saying not having given the CDs to the accused, it would now be unfair to use them. She should have simply ordered the police to give the CDs to Manivannan. It was so patently stage-managed in a legal system that favours lawyers like Manivannan.<\/p>\n

Then the grand finale. The Attorney General called for the file to study. It is over six years. He is still studying it. The magistrate says that without the file he cannot set the next day to hear the case. I wonder what happened to the Rs. 50,000 bail money on which Manivannan was enlarged on our society after threatening assault on a member of the Election Commission.<\/p>\n

What a stinking legal system oozing foul smells from the Chief Justice, to judges to the Attorney General to the Police and to the lawyers who together put on a grand show of dispensing justice on our behalf when really they are fattening themselves at our expense.<\/p>\n

Similarly, when I challenged a speeding ticket,<\/a> I was asked to produce bail money.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, my wife stood surety because she happened to be with me; if not I would have been locked up.<\/p>\n

For a poor man with neither a guarantor nor money for bail, it means time in remand jail. Indeed, it is easy to put a poor man in jail \u2013 make a terrible accusation, file a police report and with a nondiscerning judge like Judeson, the accused would be in remand jail.<\/p>\n

From Nallur, Dr. Umasugi Nadarajah has been shouting herself hoarse about drug dealings down her road behind the Nallur temple. Letters to the President,\u00a0 <\/span>the HRCL, the IGP et al. <\/i>have had no effect. One of her letters said, \u201cSo many dogs are barking at night just behind my house in Mani Osai Lane too. There are many violent activities going on targeting businesses as well. President Anura please take prompt action.\u201d<\/p>\n

The justice system is malodorous and fetid as even members of the public think she is mad to make an issue of the drug dealers. Concern for the public good is frowned upon as eccentric when she ought to be celebrated for standing up for all of us. Hers is a good example of why a crook or gangster is rarely caught for bribery or other forms of corruption.<\/p>\n

Land Fraud and Crooked Notaries<\/b><\/p>\n

A legitimate provision of the law allows \u201ca Deed of Declaration\u201d through a notary claiming ownership of lands not in occupation meant for rectifying mistakes in deeds and establishing bona fide <\/i>claims over lands where a parent dies intestate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, The Island<\/i>, The Sunday Times<\/i> (12 July 2026) and other newspapers reported that the Colombo Land Registrar, Ruwani Nalika of Pannipitiya, was generating false deeds for unoccupied lands and these were written over to criminal gangs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She was produced before Colombo Chief Magistrate and released on bail of Rs.1 million with sureties. An overseas travel ban was also imposed on her. She allegedly used fake rubber seals of the Registry to issue forged deeds for unscrupulous groups who then occupy such lands and properties. The co-conspirators use extortion as a tool and would only leave the premises after they are paid exorbitant amounts of money. They include lawyers and retired policemen.<\/p>\n

Deeds of Declaration in the North<\/b><\/p>\n

Shocked by what I read of the frauds in Colombo, I began digging into the situation in the North. In Mullaitivu where the greatest displacement occurred, one Notary alone wrote almost 500 such declarations in one year. So widespread is the misuse of this provision of the law that when the police prosecuted the crooked lawyers\/notaries, many leading Jaffna lawyers went to the Attorney General and PM Wickremesinghe, and threatened to give a hard time to the AG using harsh cross-examination, if charges are filed against lawyers for filing false deeds.<\/p>\n

I further discovered that the Nayanmarkattu Trust land in the family of Samson Gnanaharan Ponnudurai<\/a> has been rewritten as belonging to the Bharathi Cultural Centre through a Deed of Declaration. It was done by Notary Sivalingam Ilankeeran. There are reports that he has already been imprisoned for filing false deeds and has recently come out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Confronted by Ponnudurai, Ilankeeran claimed that he has issued declarations for properties at addresses given to him by Viswalingam Manivannan. Manivannan\u2019s party head office is also said to be on property transferred by Declaration. Manivannan\u2019s elder brother Thirukumaran, also a lawyer, is one of those reported in the press as threatening the AG with tough cross examination if he prosecuted lawyers who filed fraudulent deeds.<\/p>\n

It must also be noted that in the 2018 local government election (Daily FT. 4 Aug.2018<\/a>), the Court of Appeal issued an Interim Order preventing the Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) Opposition leader Manivannan from sitting, voting and participating in the Council meetings. The Petitioner was one Stephenson Ronoldon. His basis was that Manivannan\u00a0 <\/span>was disqualified from being a member of JMC because he was not a resident of the JMC electoral area as required by the relevant Act. After casting his vote at Kokkuvil West, he had filed nomination papers listing Ramanathan Road, Jaffna as his address in the ACTC nomination papers.<\/p>\n

Colombo Telegraph (4 Sept. 2018)<\/a> adds more shocking details of the case CA 218\/2018\u00a0<\/b>alleging\u00a0 <\/span>Manivannan\u2019s ineligibility. Seeking to give everything a communal slant, the Tamil Congress alleged that the case was filed in Colombo to get Sinhalese judges to preside.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His nomination papers had the fudged Jaffna address of Sir Pon Ramanathan Veethy for him with no house number. In court, he claimed an address in Vannarponnai within the JMC but was not registered as a resident there on the householders\u2019 list. The chief householder at the Vannarponnai address was or had been a Tamil Congress candidate. For his identity card issued by the JMC after it met in March 2018, he had given his Kokkuvil address where he had his vote. On top of this there are allegations of a forged deed being produced in court to prove residence \u2013 the date of the deed to a property purchased after the elections altered to a day before the elections to claim eligibilty.<\/p>\n

These were serious allegations that when proved likely would have led to stringent punishment from court. However, after 2 years of court on the day judgement was to be delivered, some bar association members had pressured Stephenson Ronoldon into withdrawing his petition. What do you think of the bar association with members who do not want the dark side of their members exposed?<\/p>\n

Defamation Suits<\/b><\/p>\n

We are a democracy and have the right to information which has been improved by the RTI Commission. However, unlike the RTI Commission, the threat of defamation suits dampens the enthusiasm on the part of individuals from exposing the politicians\u00a0 <\/span>and administrators who are big into corruption. For example, J. Setukavalar, the Chairman of the Church Missionary Society, has publicly threathened stakeholders of schools with defamation suits should we point out deficiencies in the administration of schools \u2013 pointedly for even receiving emails with untrue conent. How can anyone stop an incoming email containing malicious content? Sending is another matter. He has threatened me for using his photograph which he himself published on the Internet. Defamation claims must be for real defamstion and not intimidation as they usually are.<\/p>\n

Many organizations have a battery of lawyers on permanent retainer. Religious organisations likewise have many lawyers who appear free out of reigious loyalty. They will write a letter of demand for princely sums and have enough press contacts to get the letter of demand published. The press in general (except when headed by the principled likes of Uvindu Kurukulasuriya or Lasantha Wickrematunge), <\/b>is unwilling to debate the matter and often publishes the letter of demand and stop further correspondence. That is reputationally hurtful to anyone exposing corruption.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Should the matter go to court, it means a hearing every few months and curtailing foreign travel as courts will normally not give us the dates in advance. Even courts are heartless \u2013 I have had to travel from Colombo to Jaffna or Trincomalee only to be told that the judge had to go on a conference or was sick or had been summoned by the Judicial Service Commission. There is no reason why the Registrar cannot give a telephone call with a witness participating so that the receipt of notice of postponement cannot be denied. Even my own lawyer forgot to tell me that there will he no hearing because the lawyers were on hartal. Organizations whose lawyers appear free or have deep pockets can appear in court and postpone hearings on the date of a hearing. They can afford it but we individuals cannot pay our lawyers for every court date.<\/b><\/p>\n

To expose the corruption in in organizations is to place ourselves at grave risk that goes against the public good. Government must have a mechanism for evaluating defamation suits against the powerful and providing lawyers as appropriate like the public defender system for the poor. A British judge whom I befriended when we both served as election monitors in Pakistan told me that they have cut back\u00a0 <\/span>big on long-drawn cases by continuing a case as frequently as possible once it is started.<\/p>\n

Encouraging safe and open whistleblowing makes for our ownership of the public good. At Drexel University where I worked they even started a system for safe whistle-blowing. President AKD would well to work on these ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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