Opa At Your Service

Questions and Answers

Obtaining certified copy of birth certifcate:

My birth certificate which was obtained by me, a long time ago from Maligawatta Secretariat was lost sometime back. I applied for a certified copy to the Divisional Secretary, Colombo, as they do those functions now. However, I was requested to apply to the Divisional Secretary, Negombo as my Division of Birth is Periyamulla, Negombo.

Accordingly, I applied to him on 11.06 by Regd. Post, with all the required information, such as my name, names of father and mother, date of birth, place registered No. 9356 date 22. 2.39 etc. to facilitate trace of records, and requested a copy of birth.

To my surprise the Divisional Secretary while confirming all the above details in his form dated 10.07.09 informs that documents for three months period from No. 9356 of 22.2.39 had been damaged and therefore the birth cannot be certified as registered. (Copy enclosed) No. 9356 is No. of Reg. Entry.

As I am a Senior Citizen and need of a certified copy, please inform me through your valuable “OPA” at your service” page as to what I should do, to obtain a certified copy of my birth. - Joseph, Pannipitiya

Answer: If the Divisional Secretary’s Office does not have nay records, they are expected to request from the Central Record Room at Maligawatte who maintain records of all Island. In your case it appears that the District Registrar’s Office has contacted the Central Record Room and they too do not have (or damaged) records of births in 1940, 1939 and before. There is one way of getting it which is a long and tedious process. That is the provision to reconstruct damaged folio for which you have to apply to the Registrar General’s Office in Battaramulla and this has go to Courts and approved.

You can prepare a sworn affidavit with details of your Birth-Date, place etc and get it authenticated by a JP (Justice of the Peace). This affidavit along with Result of Search of Register’s issued by the Additional District Registrar could be used for limited purposes. It also matters for what purpose you need or intend using your Birth Certificate. If by any chance you have a photocopy, it may be possible to get it certified by an authorized person.

Delay in widows pension

I am writing this letter on behalf of my aunt Mrs. G.K. Mather, who is living in the USA. She lost her husband S.W.J. Mather in the USA on November 21, 2007.

My aunt Mrs. G.K. Mather, sent all the relevant documents for her widows pension to the Director of Pensions, Maligawatte through the High Commission of Sri Lanka in USA, her W & OP No. being 82/90854, and I as a nephew too, made an appeal to K.A. Thilakeratne, Director of Pensions on April 20, 2009 requesting for payment of my aunts monthly pension with unpaid arrears, a copy of which is enclosed herewith for your perusal.

Now my aunt has informed me that she has not got a reply for same up to now.

Please be good enough to look into this matter and help me to send a favourable reply to my aunt.

Dr. S.J.V. Richards

Wellawatte.

Answer: We took this matter up with the Pensions Department. After a couple of days of our inquiry they managed to trace the documents sent by Mrs. G.K. Mather. Usually when there is a shortcoming in the documentation they tend to put it aside and attend to other work. As the work in this Department is very heavy and increasing due to long life expectancy of Sri Lankans.

The shortcoming in Mrs. Mather’s application is that her Marriage Certificate is issued by the Church. They require a Marriage Certificate registered and signed by the Divisional Secretary or Registrar General’s Office. The Pension Department has already sent a letter to Mrs. Mather requesting to forward same. We trust you will explain this to Mrs. Mather and get the matter attended to. After doing so if there is a delay please write to us.

Arbitration Award not honoured by CWE

I write on behalf of my sister T.H. Rupa Lukshmie.

T.H. Rupa Lukshmie of 251, Pattara Kade, Maha Edanda, Karandeniya was awarded half pay by the Arbitrator T. Piyasoma on 21.05.2008, a copy of which is attached herewith, and her employer, the Chairman, CWE, CWE building No 27 Vauxhall Street, Colombo 02, was ordered to pay such award within a month.

This award has not been paid to her up to date and she complained to the Labour Commissioner who directed the Chairman, CWE, to settle this award. The Chairman CWE has not made payment so far.

Please be good enough to help her to get this payment early. T.H. Dharmasena,

Nugegoda.

Answer: We made inquiries from the Labour Department regarding your sister’s case. We were unable to clarify whether your sister worked in the CWE retail or wholesale section. If she had worked in the wholesale section, there is still a Chairman CWE and your matter should be pursued with the Chairman with the help of the Labour Commissioner.

If in case she had worked in the CWE (SATHOSA) retail section, the matter is being attended to by the Liquidators appointed by the District Courts. Therefore she has to make an application of request for payment along with copies of all documents of the Arbitrator’s Award to G.J. David or P.E.A. Jayawickrema of SJMS Associated, No. 2 Castle Lane Colombo 4. You may call Tel. 5444420/21 for more details.

Nomination of beneficiary to banks

My husband and I are Senior Citizens who retired from service several years ago. We have invested small amounts of money in fixed deposits in a few different banks. We also have Savings Accounts in a couple of banks.

For the Fixed Deposits we have given the name of a nominee, in the event of our deaths. I would like to know if it is possible for us to get a single legal document with all our investments stated in it (FDs and Savings A/cs) together with the name of the nominee, so that there will be no problem for the nominee after our deaths.

Thank you very much for the service you are providing the public.

Chitra - Nugegoda

Answer: You have raised a very valid question which is of concern to every person of a certain age group who begin to think of what happens to their assets/funds after their demise. Unfortunately, there is no such simple solution as suggested by you. Each and every Bank has their own way of doing things and thus insist that the customers fulfil their requirement for nomination of a beneficiary.

The formats may be similar but they want it especially addressed to their bank or with their own header in the format and the account number indicated. One solution is to restrict the number of Banks to have your deposits and Savings Account.

Alternatively you can have the beneficiary’s name and all Deposits/Savings and other assets if any in the form of a last will. However the last will has to be presented to District Courts as a testamentary case and a probate issued for the Banks to honour same. This applies even if the total value is less than Rs. 500,000 in the case of a last will.

Long delay in payment of EPF arrears

My EPF Membership No. 29736 A 00002 I would be very thankful if you would kindly attend to my problems given below and bring redress:-

I was an employee in the Walker Sons & Co. Ltd, No. 18, St. Michaels Road, Colombo 3. I was not paid EPF for a period of 7 months from 2003 November to 2004 May.

I submitted my claims duly perfected with the required letter from the employee on 23/7/2008 which was acknowledged by the Central Bank on 08/08/2008. They assigned a reference No. T4274 photocopies of above letters annexed for perusal. I made inquiries several times but they failed to pay me the arrears. I am being a very senior person over 83 years of age wish you would take possible early action to get this payment without further delay.

J. H. G. Gunewardena, Kotte

Answer: Sorry for the long delay in replying your letter received on 11/05/2009. This is because it took us long to sort out your matter. First it was difficult to contact the EPF section as the telephones there are always busy. The EPF Department claimed that your EPF money has not been received. Fortunately you have sent us a copy from your Employer with the Receipt Nos. of the payments made to the EPF. We faxed this letter to them and followed it up. They now confirm that your payment is ready and that it will be credited to your Bank Account. Please check with your bank after two weeks and if not received, you may contact us or Mr. Wickremeratne of the Central Bank EPF Section on Tel. 2477224.

Permit for Duty Free vehicle

I would like to know whether my son who is employed in Japan for over 10 years and having a NRFC Account at the Hatton National Bank, is entitled to import a duty free vehicle. I am a retired government pensioner. My son wants to send me a car from Japan as a present for my personal use. He wants to make use of his duty free allowance (permit) to send it. If he is entitled to import a Duty Free car, can he send it to me as a gift?

I shall be very thankful to you to give me the necessary instructions regarding this matter.

M. Mulaffar, Dharga Town

Answer: There is no Duty Free vehicles permit given to NRFC Account holders. If your son wants to send you a car from Japan as a present, it will be subject to all duties as applicable now for a new or used motor car.

If he is entitled to a Duty Free car it has to be registered in his name and cannot be registered in your name. However, you may use a car registered in your son’s name with an appropriate insurance.

Right of Owner to Eject Lessee

My father purchased a property at Pamankada on 29.1.1988 and it was gifted to me on 18.10.2000. The building on the property was an old dilapidated boutique which was in a very bad condition. It was completely destroyed by a fire on 4.7.1999.

On a building permit issued by the Colombo Municipal Council I started re-building initially a ground floor (area 1000 sq.ft) and depending on funds available, building was done in stages and ultimately completed in 2003.

The Colombo Municipal Assements and Rates are as follows:-

Year Annual Quarterly

Value Rates

2004 Rs. 31,680/- Rs. 2,772/-

2005 -do- -do-

2006 -do- -do-

2007 -do- -do-

2008 Rs. 60,280 Rs. 5,275/-

On completion of the Ground Floor, I, leased it for a business purpose to a businessman on a monthly lease rental. In the Lease Agreement, among other clauses, the following clause had been incorporated: “It is further mutually agreed by and between the parties hereto in the manner following:

“Admit that the provisions of Rent Act No. 7 of 1972 and its amendments and the regulations made thereunder are not applicable to the demised premises.” The Lessee is in arrears of monthly rental for the last 6 months and I wish to file action in the circumstances for rent and ejectment. Can I go ahead with legal action.

Could you please advise me taking into consideration the above fact and details whether the building can be treated as “excepted premises. It has not been a residential premises.”

In the alternative, please let me know the legal requirements for a building to qualify as an “excepted” premises. In this connection, your reference is requested to Section 2 and Section 5 of Rent (Amendment) Act No. 26 of 2002. A prompt reply in the Daily News will be greatly appreciated. C. Weerasinghe

Colombo 6

Contribution to ETF

I am the owner of a 20 acre coconut estate, I have been paying the Employees Provident Fund since January 2008 to the watcher.

Please let me know whether it is compulsory for me to pay ETF to the Watcher.

J. Kulatunga

Colombo 6

Answer: Yes, It is compulsory that you contribute to your employees ETF (Employees Trust Fund) as well. The employer has to contribute 3% (Three percent) of the monthly salary towards the employees Fund but the employee does not contribute anything to the ETF unlike the EPF. You may start paying the ETF contribution at least now.

However, our advice is that you should pay from January 2008 (arrears) to be on the safe side. Your employee can at any stage claim or complain that you have not contributed since January 2008.