EPDP dismisses Jaffna MPs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 1999, 21:49 GMT]
The Supreme court ruled today that the dismissal of two Jaffna MPs, Mr.S. Rameswaran and Mr. S.Ramamoorthy, by Mr. Devananda, the leader of the EPDP, on January 31, was valid in law.

The two brothers contested the Jaffna seats in the 1994 Parliamentary as Independant Group 2. The General Secretary of the Independent Group 2 was Mr. Devananda.

Following their initial dismissal in June 1997 the two filed a complaint in court against Mr. Devananda. The court ruled in their favour stating that the correct procedures had not been followed in their dismissal.

Mr. Rameswaren and Mr. Ramamoorthy continued to remain as Jaffna MP's and functioned as independents in the Colombo parliament.

Mr. Devananda then initiated the appropriate procedures and removed them on January 31, 1999.

The brothers were given one month to respond and filed a case against Mr. Devananda's decision on February 26. The case was taken up for hearing on March 24. The court's decision today found against them.

EPDP sources said today that they had secured the resignation of the UNP candidate who came behind the two brothers in the list for the Jaffna seat. The resignation of two other candidates from the list have also been secured they said.

Mr. Rameswaren and Mr. Ramamoorthy backed an independent group in the Jaffna local government elections of January 1998. During the run up to the elections Mr. Ramamoorthy alleged that EPDP cadres had shot at him while he was at his mother's home in Karampan, Jaffna. The brothers claimed that they were being intimidated for participating in the elections independently of the EPDP.

The EPDP however claims that the two brothers were responsible for human rights violations that occurred in the islands off the Jaffna peninsula in the period between 1991 and 1996.