| NIC in Sinhala and Tamil |
| [ Friday, 03 May 2013, 06:39.13 AM GMT +05:30 ] |
  Deputy Solicitor General, Viraj Dayaratne, informed the Supreme Court on Thursday (2) that the government is checking out samples of board to select what would be most appropriate to print National Identity Cards (NICs) in Sinhala and Tamil. |
| He was addressing Court on behalf of the respondents cited in the Fundamental Rights application that seeks the issuance of NICs in Sinhala and Tamil languages. The Bench comprised Chief Justice Mohan Peries and Justices Saleem Marsoof and Priyasath Dep.Prasad Dananjaya Guruge of Godigamuwa, Maharagama, filed the application, citing the Registrar General of the Department of Registration of Persons, R.N.S. Sarath Kumar, State Languages and National Integration Minister, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Secretary of Defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the Attorney General as respondents. The petitioner stated that the administrative language in the North and East is Tamil, and when a Sri Lankan from any other province goes to the North and East with Identity Cards in Sinhala, or has other documents in Sinhala, he has to undergo immense difficulties due to the Sinhala language used on National Identity Cards and other documents. The petitioner requests the Court to direct the respondents to issue the NIC in Sinhala and Tamil. When the case was taken up, Justice Marsoof said that in India, Tamil Nadu citizens possess NICs issued in Tamil and Hindu Languages. Justice Marsoof also said that in the other states of India, they issued the NIC in the link language and Hindi. The Chief Justice said passports and driving licences of Sri Lankans are issued in English. We will have to include Sinhala language in the future. The case was postponed for 20 July. |
Sleeping Left On May Day
May 3, 2013
Vasudeva Nanayakkara, DEW Gunasekara and Tissa Vitarana at Socialist Alliance May Day stage – Photo by a member of FUTA
