UGC Chief given time till Sept. 12 to show cause

‘Contempt of Court’:

August 23, 2012, 10:31 pm , The Island

By Chitra Weerarathne

Chairman of the University Grants Commission Professor Gamini Samaranayaka yesterday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that he had tried his best to abide by the Supreme Court order of June 25, 2012, to recalculate the Z-Scores of the GCE Advanced Level Examination of August 2011, and to re-issue the new Z-Score as early as possible. Any delay was unintentional and he regretted any unavoidable delay with due apologies to the Supreme Court, he said.

Prof. Samaranayaka filed answer to a show cause order of the Supreme Court asking why he should not be punished for contempt for delaying to release the new Z-scores which were re-calculated, taking the old syllabus and the new syllabus, as two different populations. The affidavit, by the UGC Chief, said that as directed by the President, a committee of experts had been appointed to see how best the Supreme Court order could be followed.

The affidavit stated, "The committee had decided that once the Z-Scores are recalculated, as directed by the Supreme Court, taking the two syllabuses as different entities, the Z-Scores are to be amalgamated and arranged in descending order to give rise to the set of Z-scores of the GCE Advanced Level Examination held in 2011.

"In accordance with the second direction of the Supreme Court, the Z-Score which was to be released to each particular candidate was that which was extracted from such set of Z-scores of the examination. It was recommended further that the set of Z-scores of the examination so determined was the one that had to be used for admission to universities and other institutions of higher education."

Professor Samaranayaka has stated that by letter dated July 13, 2012, he asked the Commissioner General of Examinations to recalculate the Z-Score as ordered by the Supreme Court and to follow the directions laid down by the committee of experts, in doing the recalculation.

On July 22, 20012, the recalculated, Z-Score of candidates were released with the relevant district and island rankings, by the Commissioner General of Examinations.

Professor Samaranayaka has said that he took steps to implement the Supreme Court order, without unnecessary delay.

Professor Samaranayake has said that the media conference, held after the Supreme Court judgement, to re-issue the Z-Score, had been conducted by the Ministry of Higher Education and not by the University Grants Commission. He had said that he did not make any remarks to insult the dignity of the Supreme Court. Some remarks, attributed to him, were inaccurate.

Prof. Samaranayake was given time till September 12, 2012 to show cause as to why he should not be charged for contempt of Court.

Mrs. Gowri Thavarasa, was the instructing Attorney, who filed this answer by Professor Samaranayake in the Supreme Court Registry yesterday.