CBEU states that recruitment of employees at the BOC has deviated from standard procedure

COLOMBO (News 1^st) - The Ceylon Bank Employees Union states that recruitment of employees at the Bank of Ceylon has deviated from standard procedure. An advertisement calling for applications for trainee staff assistants was published on the 6th of November 2016. Following standard recruitment procedure, the written examination was conducted by the Department of Examination on the 18th of March 2017. Out of the over 100,000 candidates who sat the exam, 11,000 passed. In a letter dated 07th March 2018 the bank had informed 3483 of the candidates to attend an interview on the 24th of March 2018. While all this is in line with the standard recruitment procedures according to the Union the cause for concern arose following the cabinet reshuffle that took place after the recently concluded local government elections. After Minister Lakshman Kirella took the reins at the Ministry of Public Enterprise, the Bank of Ceylon was ordered by the Ministry to cancel the scheduled interviews. As instructed, the bank forwarded this letter dated 12th March to all 3483 candidates informing them that the interviews have been postponed indefinitely. The Ceylon Bank Employees Union state that there is the political influence behind the postponement of the interviews. Vice President of the Ceylon Bank Employees Union, Channa Dissanayake said that on 7^th of March a letter was sent calling to attend the interview and on the 12^th a letter was sent canceling these interviews and that is where they have an issue. Further, he stated that the bank functions under the Ministry of Public Enterprise and that the recruitment procedure was initiated under the full consent of the Ministry. “As such we don't see any valid reason to stop these interviews. According to information we received it was stopped following an order issued by the Ministry. Therefore it is very clear that there is political influence involved in this.” - Channa Dissanayake Channa Dissanayake said that it must be made clear that this is a state bank, not a bank of the government and that there is a difference between the state and the government. He also said that this is an institution owned by the people of this country and the right of the educated children of the general public of this country to work at this bank must be asserted. 30 million rupees was paid to the Department of Examinations for conducting the exams and 278,640 rupees was incurred for the registered post to inform candidates of their interviews and again for the cancellation. The Union has written to the President drawing his attention to the deviation from recruitment procedure and substantial costs involved. https://www.facebook.com/NewsfirstSL/videos/1882769051783344/