UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Police’s deliberate inaction in a labour case is in violation of court orders 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding 73 workers from the Orex Factory in Ekala, Jaela, Sri Lanka, who were unlawfully dismissed after the owner arbitrarily closed down the factory in 2002.

The AHRC previously reported that the owner, Mohamed Mohamed Izzath deprived his workers of the Employees Trust Fund (ETF), the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), any gratuity or compensation. The Court of Law issued an order to the owner to appear before it for the cases against him, which had been filed by the workers. When the owner constantly refused to appear at any hearings, the magistrate issued several orders to the police to produce him before the court. (See further: FA-23-2005) To date however, the police have failed to do this and therefore the owner has yet to answer to those cases made against him.

According to the latest information, several court hearings were held in September regarding the complaints against the owner. On 2 September 2005, two hearings were held separately in the Fort Magistrate Court (Case No. 58460) and in the Aluthkade Magistrate Court (Case No. 43206) regarding the matter of payment of workers’ salaries. On September 12, another two hearings were held in the Gampaha Magistrate Court regarding EPF (Case No. 16897/ 20393) and gratuity (Case No. 78265). Further, on September 23, a court hearing was held in the Aluthkade Magistrate Court regarding compensation (Case No. 45207). However, as usual, the owner did not appear at any of these hearings. Due to the owner’s absence and the police’s failure to pursue him, the judges again could not proceed with the cases.

In fact, the owner’s family has a notorious history of such crime. The owner’s elder brother, M.M. Kaleel also illegally dismissed 311 workers from “Jewel Arts International” garment factory in 1994 and did not provide the ETF, EPF, gratuity or compensation to the dismissed workers. The case against him has dragged on for 11 years as he has never appeared at any court hearings.  In this case, the police have also failed to produce the owner before the court. The workers allege that such failure by the police is due to corruption.

In this latest case, the workers made a complaint to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka on 1 September 2005 regarding the police’s deliberate failure to comply with the orders of the magistrates. However, the Commission has not made any clear decision about this matter and therefore the inquiry is on-going. It is reported that the Commission sent a letter to the police and asked for detailed information about what the police have done to produce the owner before the court.

Meanwhile, the factory premises have been sold out to a new owner, “EAP Edirisinghe”, who commenced work on the land. When some workers immediately protested regarding the reopening of the premises, the police arrived and stopped the new owner’s work.

The workers, many of whom had worked at the factory for 15-20 years, are now unemployed. They are mostly parents of about 40-50 years of age, who have grown-up children and find it extremely difficult to feed and educate them. Some have found temporary jobs but most of the workers are struggling to live in their vulnerable situation.

The AHRC is deeply concerned by this serious case. In particular, we notice with grave concern that the workers’ labour rights have been denied for a long time due to the police’s apparent failure to produce the owner before the court despite of the courts’ repeated orders. We strongly urge you to write to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and request him to take speedy and proper action to produce the perpetrator in the court. Please also urge him to order an impartial and thorough investigation into the police inaction regarding the court orders and punish the responsible officers by law.
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