by Shan Wijetunga
The cabinet yesterday decided to halt all illegal appointments, promotions and transfers which took place during the general election period.

The decision was taken at the first cabinet meeting of the UNF government, which was chaired by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga at the President’s House last afternoon.

President Kumaratunga has told the cabinet that appointments to various state institutions have been made during this period without her consent and these should be cancelled.

She had informed the cabinet that she had issued instructions to the Treasury not to make budget allocations for the appointments and promotions in question.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe expressing his views had suggested that the appointments and promotions that were legal should not be cancelled.

The cabinet has decided to verify the legality of appointments, promotions and transfers which took place during this period and take necessary action.

All Ministers except Mr.S.B.Dissanayake were present at the meeting which was cordial, according to sources and the new cabinet members were treated to ‘kiribath’ by the President at the commencement of the meeting.

Mr.Dissanayake had been unable to attend the meeting as he had been taking over his official duties at the time.

The cabinet meeting which commenced at sharp 10.00 am was limited to 45 minutes.

While twelve proposals were presented for approval, the cabinet gave its approval to appoint Naufar Rahuman as Secretary to the Leader of the House

It further decided to appoint Ashoka Athurugiriya as Secretary for the Leader of the Opposition.

As many of the other proposals had been made by Ministers of the previous government they were relegated to the new Ministers to be appraised once again.

During the meeting, the President has said that employees of the Petroleum Corporation and several other institutions were still unable to enter their places of work and the Minister of Tourism Affairs, Gamini Lokuge had replied that this was because none of them had ever worked in those institutions.

The President had been unable not to smile at Mr.Lokuge’s comment but had nevertheless instructed the relevant Ministers to look into the matter.