Governor of the Uva Province A.J. M. Muzamil today temporarily suspended the activities of the Badulla Municipal Council with immediate effect.
Issuing an Extraordinary Gazette notification, he vested the powers to a special commissioner to conduct the operations of the Council.
The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) had secured a majority in the council after joining forces with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to form an alliance., despite the United National Party (UNP) having secured a majority on its own.
Thereafter, the SLPP and SLFP had reached an agreement for each party to govern two years each.
However, as an SLPP member had crossed over to the UNP last year, the alliance had lost its majority, and the two parties were facing conflicts on the two-year governance agreement and for the Mayorship.
As no settlement had been reached between the two parties, and the judiciary not having issued a verdict despite a case being filed in this regard, the SLPP had lost its majority, halting all functions of the Badulla Municipal Council.
The Governor of the Uva Province had therefore been forced to intervene and take control of the Municipal Council and its operations. (NewsWire)
