Senior CAA official in a soup over arbitrary communication with LPG service provider

by Suresh Perera

A senior Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) official has been censured for arbitrarily seeking information from a private company in the Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) business in Sri Lanka on the feasibility of a proposal it made to the Trade Minister on bulk purchases under a joint procurement system.

The official has said in a letter to the company that the information was being sought by the CAA “as per instructions of the Minister”. However, he has been taken to task for not keeping the regulatory body’s Chairman and Board of Directors informed of the move on a “nationally sensitive issue relating to LPG”.

The seven questions raised by the official from the LPG service provider encompasses the discount receivable or contracted price reduction on bulk LPG purchases, maximum capacity of LPG tanker that can reach port terminal, intended maximum bulk quantity to be purchased at a time and the number of cycles per month, anticipated freight charges and quantum of freight saving per metric ton and anticipated terminal handling fee and the saving on it.

Moreover, information on transport charges from Hambantota terminal to the filling centre at Biyagama/Kerawalapitiya and any other additional cost to be incurred under the proposed joint procurement system have also been sought.

“We didn’t know anything about it until he showed a copy of the letter to the Chairman after sending it to the company concerned”, says Thushan Gunawardena, CAA’s Executive Director.

Asserting that the official has used the “CAA for private matters and withheld information of national importance”, he said that in terms of Section 19 of the CAA Act, an official in that capacity should consult the Authority (Executive Directors plus Chairman) before communicating with an outside party.

On whose instructions did you write to this company and why didn’t you refer the questions to the Chairman prior to sending them across at your own discretion without consulting the authority?, Gunawardena has asked in an explanation sought from the official concerned.

“As the official has so far not clarified the position by responding to the explanation sought, I expect the Chairman, Human Resources Development division and the internal auditor to institute immediate action against him for non-compliance with the institutional code and the CAA Act”, the Executive Director said.

He said the official concerned could be held accountable for negligence of fiduciary duties, withholding information/sharing redacted documents to mislead the authority, writing to a private organization on a nationally sensitive issue without consulting the authority and non-compliance with authority directives.