The Supreme Court yesterday directed Secretary Defence to interview the 2,680 displaced families of Jaffna, whose title documents had been cleared by the District Secretary of Jaffna.

A committee comprising a judicial officer, representatives of the armed forces and police, will conduct the interviews. The judicial officer will be nominated by the High Court Judge of Jaffna.

The Supreme Court commended the services rendered by the District Secretary of Jaffna in clearing the title documents of the displaced persons.

The next phase is a clearance from the Defence Ministry for resettlement of persons, whose titles are cleared.

The Court requested the District Secretary Jaffna to further contribute towards the setting up of a suitable mechanism for resettlement.

K. Kanagishwaran PC, appeared for the displaced persons, on whose behalf a fundamental rights violation application had been filed in the Supreme Court.

The case is to be called again on May 5, 2008.

The Bench comprised the Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, Justice N. G. Amaratunga and Justice J. Balapatabandi.