Vavuniya mayor stays in office as court extends order against governor

The Vavuniya High Court has extended the interim order suspending the Northern Province Governors decision to remove the Vavuniya Municipal Council Mayor Kandeeban from office, directing the parties to file written submissions before it rules on whether the suspension should continue.

The matter was taken up again on Friday as part of a writ application filed by Kandeeban challenging his removal by the Northern Province Governor Nagalingam Vethanayahan.

Kandeebans counsel, Presidents Counsel M. A. Sumanthiran, told reporters after the hearing that the day-long proceedings were confined to the question of whether the existing interim order should be maintained or lifted. The respondents had previously filed objections seeking its removal, with Kandeebans legal team filing its response the day before.

The court directed the parties to submit their arguments in writing by 28 August, and is expected to rule on the interim order on 9 September. Until then the suspension of the governors decision remains in force.

The governor removed Kandeeban from both the office of mayor and his elected seat on the council through an extraordinary gazette issued in June, following an inquiry into the councils affairs, acting under provisions of the Municipal Councils Ordinance. The High Court initially suspended the gazette and prohibited any action being taken on the basis of the removal, while also preventing the appointment or election of a replacement mayor.

The main writ application will proceed once the court has determined the question of interim relief.

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The case forms part of a wider pattern in which the Northern Province Governor, an appointee of the president rather than an elected official, has used gazette powers to remove Tamil representatives chosen at the ballot box. The removals prompted protest across the North-East, including a hartal in Chavakachcheri, with Tamil politicians arguing that unelected officials should not be able to override the democratic choices of Tamil voters.

The disputes over local government come as provincial council elections remain suspended, the terms of the nine councils having expired between 2017 and 2019, leaving local authorities as the only tier of elected Tamil representation in the North-East.