Sri Lanka’s university system may be owed nearly Rs. 30 billion by lecturers who breached contractual bonds and agreements, including academics who went overseas without fulfilling their obligations, a parliamentary oversight committee has been told.
The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) called for a formal mechanism to recover the outstanding money from those who had violated their agreements, stressing the need to examine similar cases across the country’s entire university system.
The disclosures emerged during a COPE meeting chaired by Member of Parliament Dr Nishantha Samaraweera to examine the 2023 and 2024 audit reports and current performance of Eastern University, Sri Lanka. The committee reviewed financial management, administrative procedures and institutional performance, identifying a series of weaknesses requiring corrective action.
Eastern University receives nearly Rs. 3 billion annually from the government, but concerns were raised over deficiencies in its audit and management oversight. The committee noted the absence of a Treasury representative on its Audit and Management Committee, as well as vacancies in the internal audit unit. It also warned of a potential conflict of interest arising from an officer directly involved in financial activities serving as the chief internal auditor.
Questions were also raised over academic qualifications, promotions and missing personnel files. The committee examined complaints from students and parents concerning conflicting certificates, questions over basic qualifications and the disappearance of personal records belonging to relevant officials. Findings from investigations conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) were also considered. The committee chairman instructed university officials to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the allegations and complaints and submit a report within three months.
Audit findings relating to study leave and employment conditions revealed further irregularities. An error had been identified in calculating study leave granted to a lecturer who was still serving a probationary period. The committee was also informed that a lecturer who had resigned to contest an election and subsequently returned to university employment had received an excess payment of Rs. 3,633,900. Officials were instructed to take immediate steps to recover the money.
Procurement procedures came under scrutiny over the purchase of medical equipment. The committee discussed findings that national procurement guidelines had not been followed and that disciplinary action recommended by an investigative committee had not been implemented.
Attendance and salary payments also emerged as areas of concern. Thirty-eight members of the support staff had bypassed the fingerprint-based attendance system and taken between five and 83.5 days of leave beyond their annual entitlements. The university had not taken action to reconcile or recover Rs. 99,181,457 paid in salaries in connection with these irregularities. COPE instructed the university to introduce a transparent biometric attendance system covering all academic and non-academic staff.
The committee also examined outstanding recoveries from retired employees, former staff members and serving personnel. Chairman Samaraweera expressed dissatisfaction with explanations that missing financial records were attributable to the civil war, the tsunami and floods, emphasising that officials must provide Parliament with accurate and accountable information.
COPE further stated that the independence of university governing councils should not be used to evade financial and administrative responsibilities. Universities spending public funds must comply with public financial discipline, the committee said.
The Ministry Secretary was instructed to submit amendments to the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978 to Parliament without delay, enabling the UGC to intervene and make decisions in cases involving irregularities by university governing councils.
