Colombo University Vice Chancellor and Six Others Ordered to Appear in Court

A Sri Lankan court has ordered seven Colombo University officials to appear on Sept. 10 in a student’s compensation case alleging examination irregularities.

Nugegoda District Judge R.A.N. Rajapaksha issued notices to the university’s current vice chancellor, former vice chancellor, lecturers and examination officials. The notices require them to appear and submit any answers to the allegations.

The case was filed by Sanath Kumara Athukorala, a student in the university’s Higher Diploma in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management. He is seeking Rs. 5 million from the university administration, saying irregularities wasted his time, work and money.

The lawsuit questions how students who initially failed examinations were later allowed to pass without sitting another examination. Athukorala also alleges that a lecturer teaching one of the subjects asked him, through another student, to deposit Rs. 80,000 into her account, saying she urgently needed money. He says he refused.

The disputed subjects included Operations Management for Small Business and Business Strategy and Sustainability, taught during the second semester of the 2022/23 program. Notices were ordered delivered by registered post and through a court fiscal to the named university officials and the Attorney General.