Sri Lanka's top immigration official remanded for contempt of court charges

Colombo, Sep 25 (PTI) Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that Controller General of Immigration and Emigration, Harsha Ilukpitiya, be remanded until the conclusion of the contempt of court proceedings against him.

The apex court's order came after Ilukpitiya failed to implement the interim order on implementation of the electronic visa process.

A three-member apex court bench held that in the light of the official's defiance of the court order he would be remanded until the end of the case. It will be next taken up in January.

The court was hearing a fundamental rights petition filed by opposition politicians who called the outsourced visa operation a scam and urged for its suspension.

The court in July ordered the immigration controller to halt the outsourced operation and revert to the previous system.

In mid-April, the department started the outsourced operation which was causing long delays for arrivals at the Colombo International Airport in addition to increased processing fees.

The opposition politicians who called it a scam petitioned for court intervention. PTI CORR ZH ZH