Addressing a media briefing,
NIC Secretary, Bandula Chandrasekara urged the authorities to cancel the Law
College Entrance Examination results and hold the examination again.
Bandula Chandrasekara, said
they would be lodging a complaint with the Criminal Investigations Department
(CID) about the matter.
He said that the number of
Muslim students who passed the law entrance examination has strangely increased
in the last 2 years and said they suspect the students to have received the
paper with the support of hierarchies in the Ministry of Justice.
“In 2008, only 14 Muslim
candidates out of 242 passed. However, after Rauf Hakeem became the Minister of
Justice, the number of Muslim students who passed the exam has increased
alarmingly. In 2011, 51 Muslim candidates out of 238 passed the exam and in
2012, 78 Muslim candidates out of 309 candidates passed. Most of these Muslim
candidates have done the exam in the Tamil medium. We suspect the question
paper was leaked to them. This is an injustice to the students who sat for the law
entrance examination” he said.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka main
opposition political party United National Party (UNP) said it was clear that
some powerful person was behind the alleged fraud with regard to the law
entrance exam paper-marking.
UNP MP Ajith P. Perera told
that the party suspected a fraud after it was found a group of influential
candidates had held on to the top 50 slots in the rankings. All these students
are alleged to have studied at the same institute and taught by the same
teacher.
Sri Lanka, Young Lawyers
Association called for probe stating that it will lodge a complaint to the CID
on this the matter. The Association said only 154 students have been selected
from a total of 6,295 who sat the exam in the Sinhala medium while 133 students
out of a total of 705 Tamil medium students had been selected.
However, Sri Lankan Justice
Minister Rauf Hakeem has denied the allegations as 'unfounded' and as being
made by his political opponents and interested parties with ulterior motives.
"It is highly regrettable and deplorable that certain organizations are
using these unfounded allegations to create intercommunity tensions at a time
the government is making serious efforts to create a climate of peace and
communal harmony," he has said.
He has also, in order to set
the record straight, stated that the Law College entrance examination is
conducted by the Department of Examinations and that all decisions regarding
admission of students are in the hands of the Law College authorities, who are
guided by the Council of Legal Education.
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