Judge slams statements in Sinhala

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 June 1999, 01:21 GMT]
The Additional Magistrate of Jaffna, Mr. Ekanathan instructed the police that all statements recorded in the region's police stations should be in Tamil.

The judge said the recording of statements in Sinhalese was causing immense difficulties for the people and ordered the implementation of Tamil statements immediately.

The Police said there were not enough officers who can speak Tamil in the Jaffna peninsula. However, they said measures would be taken.

Meanwhile, North-eastern provincial council (NEPC) official said a legal unit will be established in the North East Provincial Council to attend to all legal requirements of the institution.

He also said that the Attorney General's department is studying the possibility of the council collecting taxes under the existing Sri Lankan law, without introducing new statutes in parliament.

Earlier it was pointed out that as there was no elected council to the NEP, the central government should introduce necessary statutes on behalf of the council in parliament, enabling it to collect taxes.