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by DON ASOKA WIJEWARDENA

The controversy over the allocation of funds to the Mahapola Trust Fund (MTF) has intensified with the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Ravi Karunanayaka threatening legal action, if the President does not release the required amount. Minister Karunanayaka has maintained that 50 per cent of the Development Lottery Board revenue released to the President's Fund should be allocated to the MTF, but the President's office has countered the Minister's claim, by pointing out that there is no legal requirement.

Minister Karunanayaka has pointed out that since 1997 the percentage of the DLB funds released to the Mahapola Trust Fund had been progressively reduced with only 13.7 per cent being allocated last year. He said that out of a total of 12,000 university students only 7,000 needy students, had been receiving the grant not as a subsistence allowance but to purchase books and stationery.

The Minister said that he would not hesitate to forward official letters sent to his Secretary by the Additional Secretary to the President and the Accountant of the President to substantiate his claim that 50 per cent the total earnings of the DLB should be released to the MTF. "We are in a precarious situation because 7,000 more poor students will have to be given this subsidy, making the total number of students entitled to it 14,000 in the near future," he said adding that if the MTF does not receive the required funds there is no alternative, but to institute legal proceedings.

However, President's Media Director Janadasa Peiris, said that there was absolutely no legal specification under the MTF Act to place 50 per cent or any set percentage of funds to the MTF and noted that it was the President's prerogative to review and allocate funds to the most needy causes and to offer initiatives in new areas. Peiris explained that at the beginning 50 per cent of the funds received from the Development Lottery Board was paid to the Mahapola Trust Fund as it was the only higher education scholarship at that time.

He said that since the revenue of the DLB had far outstripped the requirements to fund the Mahapola scholarship, a realistic approach to funding the Mahapola was prudently and justifiably initiated in 1997 without any detriment to students.

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