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| Sunday, 10 November 2002 |
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Letters |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance It is very often reported in the media that persons who have been rearing or keeping rare species of birds and animals in their households or institutions as pets, have been found fault with by the officials of the Wildlife Conservation Department for violating certain provisions of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance. Dogs, cats, the common mynah, parrots, squirrels and even mongoose and the "dandu lena" (the giant squirrel) are some of the animals and birds which are being brought up in households, in the open or in cages as pets. I have also observed deer, star tortoises, porcupines, apes, monkeys, eagles, peacocks, and other birds which are common in the dry zone jungles being kept in cages or in enclosures in Tourist Hotels and in many hotels to be viewed by the foreign or local guests who visit those Tourist inns and hotels. Foreigners who walk into these hotels view these birds and animals kept in the front gardens in different cages or enclosures and enjoy the 'pranks' performed by some of these birds and animals, who have sometimes been trained to welcome the guests to the hotel. Recently, I read in a Lake House daily, that several persons have been found fault with for keeping some animals which are supposed to be protected under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance. Soft Terrapins, Star Tortoises, hard Terrapins as pets which are reared in ponds, were some of the productions in Courts where the fines ran into five figure amounts according to the news report. It is clear that the individuals who had these animals in their premises were not keeping them with the idea of harassing or doing any harm to those animals. I think the wild life conservation Department should take early action to inform the general public through the print media (in all languages) giving a list of these small animals and birds which are covered by the Fauna and Flora Ordinance and also list the penalties for such breach of regulations, as most of these persons who are bringing up these birds or animals may not be knowing the particular section in the Ordinance which prohibits the keeping of such animals or birds, as captives. This will then discourage or prevent them from this type of offence. Lionel Leanage, Legislation to close loopholes in the Judicature The newspaper report about the splashing of faeces and other incidents should give us insight to the frustrations of litigants. A story has been cunningly spread by interested parties including crooked lawyers that litigants who complain against them are troublemakers whereas the truth is that litigants are so fed up of the red tape and relentless obstacles in seeking redress that it is only those with rare courage who go to the extent of making a formal complaint having for years undergone the punishment of litigating. As a journalist and citizen, I believe the people of the country would soon come to treat the courts with utter contempt unless immediate action is not taken, to eliminate the rampant corruption in some courts, instead of waiting for formal complaints to initiate action. It is time to expose the involvement of some officials who invalidate the results achieved by litigants through years of labour and expenditure, simply by "accidentally" misspelling a few words. In many instances if one peruses the documents it would be noted that the letter typed "accidentally" gives the exact opposite of what is meant or confers the benefit to the other party or makes the entire sentence meaningless. It is best to review as to what action has been taken so far against such "mistakes" and probably they have been immune to retribution upto now. Considering the gravity of the effects of such mistakes, now that the problem has been identified there should be no trouble finding solutions to it. No sane litigant is prepared to accept that there aren't enough competent typists or one who could write a correct sentence in his mother tongue. In April this year I had obtained a certified copy of a document from case No. 976/91 at Attanagalla MC. But to obtain that I had to undergo great inconvenience and expenditure because the Attorney-at-Law who had appeared for that case, could not obtain the copy, having made several attempts as the officials in the record room could not trace the case recorded. Finally I had to summon the registrar for the case proceeding at present at Gampaha DC and paid a sum of five hundred rupees to the official for appearing with the case record. On 24.10.2002 (at about 10.30 a.m.) I made an application to the Registrar of Attanagalla Magistrates Court, to obtain a certified copy from the same case record, which was directed to the record room. But the lady in charge said that the record could not be traced that day. When I offered to come the next week she said sarcastically, that it would be better if I returned in a month as it was a very old case. (This case was closed in 1992). From their attitude it is clear that they feel they can get away with almost anything. Therefore if at present there is no law to cover this important area, immediate action should be taken to protect litigants by making laws to punish such offenders because the government and the people have acknowledged the efficacy of deterrent punishment and have enacted appropriate laws against such offences as child abuse. T. G. G. PERERA, We all are happy that legislation was recently enacted to abolish the law relating to criminal defamation in our country. The statutory provisions in this regard were contained in the Penal Code in section 479 and in a subsequent enactment namely, the Sri Lanka Press Council Act No. 5 of 1973 in sections 14 and 15 thereof. If you peep into the background of these developments, you will find that the Penal Code has had these provisions ever since its enactment in our country in the year 1883 during the British rule. Most of the politicians in the recent past including even Premier Dudley Senanayake have resorted to these laws in order to harass the media. It is noteworthy that although the law was applicable to all persons without exception, it was only the politicians who have had recourse to it over this long period. It is even more amusing to note that it has always been the politicians of the ruling party only. In other words, no private individual or even a politician of the Opposition has ever attempted to have recourse to them. There has been a clamour in the country over the decades that these laws should be done away with. Minister Dharmasiri Senanayake media Minister at that time appointed a one-man committee comprising the legal luminary R. K. W. Goonasekare to go into the matter and report. The committee after having extensively studied the diverse aspects of the matter such as the history of criminal defamation laws in the United Kingdom and other commonwealth countries and how they are operating in those countries as well as in Sri Lanka and noting that in most of those countries, they are either done away with or fallen into desuetude, recommended in its report a total abolition of these provisions in our country. But this report was never made available to the members of the public and it was with utmost difficulty with some clues provided by that committee that I was able to obtain an unofficial copy of this report. Be that as it may, instead of abolishing these laws as promised during her election campaign and notwithstanding the recommendations of that committee, Many were the prosecutory court cases initiated by the Attorney General's Department under her directions during her governance and pending at the time of their recent abolition. The United National Front in its election manifesto in 2001 then once again vigorously promised to do away with these provisions of law. It is indeed exhilarating to note that it has been accomplished now at long last. When I was giving a lecture on media and law at an educational course for mediamen the other day, some uninformed students were at pains to contradict my point of view that doing away with these draconian provisions was a blessing that we are now endowed with after decades of struggling. But that did not surprise me because they were students and uninformed. What surprises me on the other hand is that even some of 'learned' friends of the legal profession are of the same view as those students. Should we leave a wild ass freedom with mediamen to defame anyone at their will and pleasure? Should there not be some legal restriction? has been their query. It may be mentioned in reply to them and others holding a similar view that most of the commonwealth countries have long ago removed the provisions relating criminal defamation by legislative amendments. In the United Kingdom, they no doubt still remain in the statute book but have not been resorted to either by politicians or any other one for the last century or so and so they remain a dead letter. But are the media, either print or electronic, enjoying a wild ass freedom under the present set up? The obvious answer is in the negative. The law is intact and clear. The victim of such defamation can fall back on civil and recover damages, perhaps in millions! For, the civil law on defamation still remains unchanged and unaltered. Dharmapala Senaratne, Shylock in a private nursing home A wife of a Ceylon bank employee underwent a successful operation in a state owned hospital and settled a reasonably accounted bill. Many months after this operation, another problem developed in her anatomy. The specialist surgeon's diagnosis necessitated her to undergo an immediate surgery. The patient got admitted to a private nursing home in Colombo with a Blissfully Blessed Name Board. The operation was successful and the fabulous medical bill was settled in full. Meanwhile, a serious problem occurred because the quantity of blood the patient received from the nursing home blood stock was over. Until the exact quantity of blood was re-placed, the Authorities refused to discharge the invalid. This inconsiderate, step caused panic. Patient's kith and kin after spending many days found the necessary quantity of blood. During this time patient was kept under "House Arrest." At long last, the demand of shylock was met without "Much Ado". However, "Adding insult to Injury", a Supplementary bill for settlement was tendered for the period the patient was kept under "House Arrest". Well, The Quality of Mercy is well strained in Nursing Homes - it only blesseth them that TAKE but not the Giver!. C. L. Terence Fernando, Negligence at teaching hospital A 25-year-old lady was admitted to ward-10 of Teaching Hospital Peradeniya, on September 30th under the care of Professor of Gynaecology and obstetric. On 5th of October 2002 she underwent a caesarean operation on account of a problem related to the baby (foetal distress). The operation was done around 2.00 p.m. and then the patient was sent to ward-11 at 3.05 p.m. On arrival at ward-11 no doctor has seen her to assess her condition. The normal procedure in obstetric wards is that the House Officer (HO) should see the patient on arrival at the ward after surgery and assesses her vital parameters including pulse, Blood Pressure (BP) and respiration to make sure that these are normal and stable. This was not done for the patient. The House Officer (HO) has seen her at 8.00 p.m exactly five hours after the patient arrived at the ward and recorded the following: Patient not pale, pulse rate 98 min. But the Blood Pressure (BP) was not measured. This patient had three conditions in which measuring the BP is a must. They are: mild pregnancy induced high BP, she had undergone a surgery and most importantly a recorded pulse rate of 98/min. But the HO has failed to give due attention the patient. Around 9.00 p.m she had started complaining of extreme thirst, abdominal pain etc. But all these complaints fell on deaf ears. By 1.30 a.m she has apparently shouted out for help unable to tolerate her difficulties. Only then the nurses (who were supposed to have monitored the patient at least half hourly) had alerted the doctor (HO). The doctor (HO) has seen her at 1.45 a.m. and recorded a pulse rate of 80/min and said BP cannot be recorded. But at the same time the nurses had recorded a BP of 120 in their records. Any sensible medical personnel will know that these findings can never co-exist. Then the senior HO who comes to the scene only at 2.00 a.m (12 hours after the surgery) directed the patient to be transferred to the ICU. Even at that stage nurse's records indicated the pulse as 80/ min, BP 120 and respiratory rate 20/min. This can never be true. The registrar of the ward was informed at 2.00a.m and he is said to have appeared there at 2.05a.m (he has managed to get aroused from his sleep, get dressed, come all the way from his quarters and examine the patient within five minutes - is this humanly possible?). Then the patient was taken to ICU at 2.20a.m. She passed away there leaving her new born. M. Shameer I was very delighted and proud, to read in the local media, that Miss Nithiyawani Kandasamy, the talented film actress, presently a student of the Ramanathan Hindu Ladies College, Wellawatte, and a popular, part time, child announcer of the regular children TV programme, Kutti-Chutti" of Sakthi TV/(MTV) has once again won the coveted Golden Butterfly Award, for her special acting performance in Somaratne Dissanayake's "Punchi Suranganawee" - ("Little Angel"),, at the 17th Iranian International Film Festival, held in Isfahan recently. Earlier too, she had obtained a very similar award, from a foreign nation, for her perfect acting performance, in another film, and that was her first (maiden) display, in a Sinhala film of full recognition! Well-done little girl! This gifted little lass has brought fame, honour and glory, at this tender age, for her parents, elders teachers, college, people and country, at large! She had made her motherland proud, and she deserves proper recognition, care and encouragement by the state, in order to promote further, here inborn talents, in the field of artists, our traditional and cultural rich heritage! She will be an asset to the film world of Sri Lanka! -My warm congratulations and best wishes to this little lass. S. T. ARASU, The newly appointed Inspector General of Police has issued an unprecedented statement immediately after resuming duties in his office. He has given a clear warning to all the troublemakers that no one can escape punishment. The statement itself is extremely important and praiseworthy as it came from the highest ranking officer in the police force and at a time when the need of it is greatly felt by all of us save criminals and wrongdoers. Undoubtedly, in the past, there have been failures on the part of law enforcing authorities to bring the offenders of some classes of crimes to justice for reasons unknown. We believe the IGP's immediate necessity is to effectively activate the law enforcement machinery to create an environment for the people of this country to live in freedom from fear. At the same time, his attention must also be drawn to other areas where law does not prevail particularly in areas of vehicular traffic on public roads. Needless to add the number of innocent lives lost on the road in the recent past. M.R.A.L. Gunasinghe, Towards the latter part of last year, President, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga appointed a team of officers, Messrs Lyn de Alwis, former director of the zoo and Ex-Director warden of the Dept of Wildlife and Mr. Jayantha Jayawardena of the Elephant Management and Conservation Project, and another gentleman, to investigate and keep her informed of the existing elephant corridors in the Island, for future conservation work. This recalls to my mind, of the late fifties when I applied for a permit to hunt down a proclaimed rogue Elephant that was causing trouble to the villagers of the Madura Oya region as well as the plains below the Kokkagala and Unapana areas. On this mission I found out the migration route of elephants to the Gal Oya valley during the dry season in other areas with the start of the October rains in the valley, the whole area was full of water and lush fodder, which keeps the elephants from moving into other areas. This has been the pattern of migration even before the Gal Oya scheme commenced. My long stay working for various game depts, as game ranger, in East and Central Africa, gave me an opportunity to study the various methods of elephant control, which I put into practice, while serving the Gal Oya sugar industries as wildlife officer, in charge of elephant control, the method proved a success and the cane fields were saved to a great extent from elephant damage. If necessary, I can render my services for elephant conservation work. Gamini De Silva., The facility provided by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to change currency notes of high denominations has been carried out in the premises of the Bank of Ceylon, Metropolitan branch and has been recently shifted to another location which appears to be a part of the same building without notice to those that seek that facility. On one occasion, customers were kept waiting outside for a considerable time in the noon. the reason given to those who clamoured to gain access by the security officer that, the tea-break was in force and the customers had to feel satisfied that such a long tea-break may have been required because of a picketing campaign due to be staged by some staff during the lunch-break. Notes of the denomination of Rs. 200 are issued only if the amount involved is in multiples of Rs. 5,000. This now appears to be a small mercy showered upon the public at large as sometime earlier, notes of that denomination were issued if the amounts involved are in multiples of Rs. 10,000. I wonder whether the senior management cannot see this conduct of those manning that counter as being insensitive to the public at large and if they do not have the time to visit this counter by surprise to learn of the travails of those that call at this counter. Albert P. Wickramasingha |
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