Ignoring in total history of flawless flying,conduct of the captain.WHO BOAST BETTER ACADEMIC,MANAGEMENT AND FLYING QUALIFICATIONS THAN THE BOARD MEMBERS
unprofessional testing methods of captains on alcohol consumption
Mind boggling lapses.Unprofessional management
Having tested unprofessionally declaring captain drunk
SriLankan Airlines Scared To Reveal Information
by Nirmala Kannangara
Application submitted seeking information under RTI Act, The appeal made to the RTI Commission by the Pilots’ Guild, The letter from the Information Officer to the Pilots’ Guild and Suren Ratwatte
Questions have been raised as to why SriLankan Airlines is scared to reveal information sought under the Right to Information Act, by the Airline Pilots’ Guild of Sri Lanka.
By letter dated June 29, 2017 the Airline Pilots’ Guild requested the Information Officer of SriLankan Airlines to provide information pertaining to the alleged misuse of public funds and the multitude of irregular practices and the losses incurred by the airline since the new management took office in early 2015. The request had been turned down by the Information Officer by letter dated July 19, 2017 claiming that the institution does not give consent to disclose any of the requested information.
Information Officer Shihara Sellamuttu had refused to provide information on grounds that such information was exempted from being granted under Section 5 of the Right to Information Act.
Subsequently the Pilots’ Guild had made an appeal on August 2 against the Information Officer to Lalith Vithana, the Designated Officer SriLankan Airlines. Upholding the Information Officer’s stance, by letter dated August 23, to the Airline Pilots’ Guild, the Designated Officer too declined to provide the information requested.
Sources from the Pilots’ Guild, on condition of anonymity, said that Section 5(1) cannot be invoked by SriLankan Airlines to refuse disclosure of the requested information as the public interest is disclosing such information that outweighs any purported harm that would result from such a disclosure in terms of Section 5(4) of the Act.
“Under the Right to Information (RTI) Act No. 12 of 2016, the Commission has vested absolute powers with the organizations to provide requested information and does not interfere with the proceedings. Having known the regulations of the RTI Act, the Information Officer, who is also the Group Legal Affairs Manager, had requested RTI Commission to advice on the matter to which the Information Officer had been advised to take their own decisions which the Commission will not interfere unless there is an appeal to them (Commission) by the requested party,” sources added.
According to the sources, the Pilots’ Guild had requested the Information Officer to reveal the remuneration of the Chief Executive Officer – Cap. Suren Ratwatte, Chief Commercial Officer and the Head of Human Resources – Pradeep Kekulawela as it was learnt that they are obtaining higher salaries than that of their predecessors. “Even the Weliamuna Report had clearly noted how irregular it was for the then CEO Kapila Chandrasena to obtained a salary of Rs. 1.5 million a month. Unconfirmed reports reaching us state that Ratwatte is drawing three times more than what Chandrasena was paid. Even the Chief Commercial Officer’s salary too is more than what Chandrasena got. Pradeep Kekulawela who is now working hand-in-glove with the new administrators too have got promotions and even thumping increments although Weliamuna reports has identified how corrupt Kekulawala is. Despite of taking action against him, more promotions and salary hikes are given to him by the present management in order to get all the ‘dirty’ work for them,” sources added.
The sources further added the reason to refuse furnish details of the salary particulars of the CEO, CCO and the HHR claiming such information is exempted by Section 5(1) (a) and Section 5(1) (g), which is untrue.
The sources said that they had no other options but to make an appeal with the RTI Commission and to take the airline before the Commission. “We made an appeal to the RTI Commission on September 15 and is waiting to go before the Commission together with the Airline Officials for an inquiry,” sources added.
According to the sources, although many requests were made to the Board after they took over office in February 2015 to allow the airline’s own accounts department to handle the salaries of the senior management that had been outsourced during Emirates administration to conceal their salary details from rest of the staff, no action had been taken and followed the same footsteps of their predecessors.
“The Board of Inquiry (BoI) headed by J. C. Weliamuna, U. H. Palihakkara, B. A. W. Abeywardane and M. K. Bandara had found out that the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kapila Chandrasena’s remuneration was over Rs. 1.5 million in addition to other allowances and was also remunerated as the CEO Mihin Lanka till he left that position. There were no transparency and that was why we wanted the new management to allow the airlines’ own accounts department to handle the salaries of all its employees irrespective of their positions. This could have saved millions of rupees from the cash strapped airline. The reason why our own accounts department was not given to handle the senior management’s salaries was to hide it from the others. That is why the Information Officer does not want to reveal these details,” sources claimed.
Although the Weliamuna report had observed how the HHR was engaged in irregularities and that there are trends contributing to mal-governance and abuse of power, it is disheartening to note as to why the HHR is still allowed to continue in the same position with more responsibilities rather than removing him from the post temporary till an inquiry is held.
“For the first time in the SriLankan Airlines history, a Grade 11 officer was sent to Singapore as the Country Manager. The HHR should take responsibilities to all these. Although allegations on sexual harassments have to be taken up seriously, the HHR says that there should be evidence beyond reasonable doubts to find an employee guilty of sexual harassment. Most of these complaints are against officers holding managerial positions and because of the connection the HHR is having with them, no action had been taken against any of them. When the BoI investigated into the staff strength, it was revealed during the Emirates time, it was 5,000 but it had increased to 6,578 by the end of first quarter 2014. The staff cost had exceeded the budget over the years. The explanation given by the HHR was that it was due to some requirements of the industry and the SriLankan Airlines is the lowest employees cost per aircraft in the region. However the BoI was of the view that this position does not seem to be accurate having regard to overall standards in the region,” sources said.
The HHR is further accused for selecting his choice of staff members to fill the vacancies although the vacancies are advertised internally. “Well before receiving applications, the HHR selects his choice of employees to fill the vacancies which is against the regulations. Recently interviews were called for the post of Country Manager Thailand to which many applied and faced interviews. But it is now learnt, an individual who did not face the interviews had been selected to the post. A military officer who had no knowledge in HR was recruited during the former administration and due to a disciplinary issue, where he had tried to assault an officer, was transferred to another section. During the present administration this officer had been promoted as Head of Service Division.
“It was the same with Dimuthu Tennakoon against whom there are allegations but recently he was promoted Head of World Sales under whom the entire commercial division comes. Tennakoon who was the Regional Manager – Asia Pacific is accused of disregarding the appointment procedure under the General Sales Agents (GSA) manual completely in regard to the Appointment of GAS in the territories of Australia, Malaysia, Japan, Pakistan, Singapore and Thailand,” sources alleged.
According to the sources, the HHR is also accused of paying Senior Cabin Crew Member Nithya Samaranayake during the time she worked for Namal Rajapaksa for Tharunyata Hetak.
“Whilst serving for Tharunyata Hetak for which the Presidential Secretariat settled the salaries, the HHR did not take any action for paying her the monthly remuneration and allowances from June 2010 to January 2015 until she was released back to SriLankan work. Considering her as a full time employees, a total sum of Rs. 4.133 million, which includes the salary, tea allowance, productivity allowance, grooming allowance, attendance incentive and duty free commission, had been paid violating management Service Circular No. 33. In addition she was promoted to Grade C4 as the Cabin Service Supervisor on March 27, 2014 whilst she was working for Tharunyata Hetak. When HHR was questioned over this by the Weliamuna Committee, he had confirmed that the promotion and the payments made were not in order,” sources claimed.
Meanwhile the Pilots’ Guild’s sources said that even their request to obtain all information related to the cost borne by the airline for giving personal flying training for the A320 jet conversion for CEO Suren Ratwatte too was among the unanswered questions. “The Information Officer was able to give few answers to our request on Pakistan International Airlines correspondence with SriLankan Airlines and information related to the cancellation of the Airbus 350 order, but failed to provide details of the expenses borne by the company for giving personal flying training to the CEO.
“The CEO got personal flying training in the comfort of his office and he even demanded to have his own choice of simulators for his flying training. What would happen if trainee pilots too request instructors of their own choices? Trainees are not allowed to choose instructors of their choice and Ratwatte’s demand was a bad example for the trainees,” sources claimed.
Meanwhile, responding to the query as to why the SriLankan Airlines is scared to reveal information under the RTI Act, Manager Media Development stated that the disclosure of information sought by the Pilots’ Guild has been declined by the Company as the Company believes that majority of the information requested by them falls within the exemptions for disclosure provided in the RTI Act and that they are vague and uncertain.
“However, the Company has provided the information which can be disclosed as the Company believes already. The RTI Act provides for the Information Officer to seek guidance from the RTI Commission at any time and the advice of the Commission was sought invoking this statutory provision,” Manager Media Development said.
C-r to leader publication
Lali Asia- aviation enthusiast
At a time Airlines like Airasia ,Singapore airlines,and almost all airlines in China making thumping profits. Srilankan is bleeding yet board is heavily paid - FOR WHAT? IS IT FOR COMING TO WORK!
