Keheliya & Co. Held Personally Liable & Ordered to Pay Rs. 275 Mn as Supreme Court Finds Rights Violations

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Supreme Court today ruled that former Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella, former Secretary to the Ministry of Health Janaka Chandragupta, and several other officials had violated fundamental human rights.

This ruling relates to the purchase of medical supplies in 2022 from a non-registered company under the Indian Credit Line scheme, carried out in violation of established procurement procedures.

The Supreme Court further ordered that the former Minister and the other respondents pay Rs. 275 million in compensation from their personal funds.

The judgment was delivered following the consideration of two Fundamental Rights petitions filed by Transparency International Sri Lanka and another party.

The decision was delivered by Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, with the concurrence of Justices Kumuduni Wickremasinghe and Janak de Silva.

According to the judgment, the former Secretary to the Ministry of Health, who was named as a respondent in the case, submitted a Cabinet Memorandum on 26 September 2022 seeking approval to purchase medical supplies from a company named “Savorit Pharmaceuticals (Private) Limited.”

Subsequently, the then Minister of Health, Keheliya Rambukwella, obtained Cabinet approval and proceeded to purchase the relevant medical supplies from the respondent company under the Indian Credit Line scheme.

The Supreme Court noted that the medical supplies were purchased from a company not registered with the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), and that the responsible officials of the Authority knowingly approved the purchases in violation of procurement guidelines and the provisions of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority Act.

The judgment further stated that, based on the Cabinet Memorandum submitted by the then Health Ministry Secretary, the former Minister obtained approval for the procurement, and that the respondents acted arbitrarily by failing to follow the mandatory procurement procedures during the purchasing process.

The Court also ruled that through this process, the respondents misused public funds allocated for public welfare, thereby depriving the people of those funds.

The Supreme Court emphasized that the respondents were entrusted with public power to serve the people, and that if they failed to understand or discharge that responsibility, it was the duty of the judiciary to remind them of their obligations.

The three-judge bench held that the actions of Keheliya Rambukwella and the other respondent officials violated the fundamental right to equality before the law, guaranteed under Article 12(1) of the Constitution.

Accordingly, the Court ordered Keheliya Rambukwella to personally pay Rs. 75 million to the State.

In addition, the former Secretary to the Ministry of Health Janaka Chandragupta was ordered to pay Rs. 50 million, while the former Chairman of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority, Professor S. D. Jayarathna, was also ordered to pay Rs. 50 million as compensation to the State.

Further, Dr. Wijith Gunasekara, Chief Executive Officer of the NMRA, and Dr. Arambegedara Thusitha Sudarshana, former Director of the Medical Supplies Division, were each ordered to pay Rs. 50 million as compensation.

The Supreme Court also directed the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) to consider initiating the necessary investigations should any provisions of the Bribery Act have been violated in relation to this procurement process.