Features | Online edition of Daily News

Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings. Euphemisms and terms for old people include seniors, senior citizens, older adults and the elderly.

The elders’ population in Sri Lanka is rapidly increasing together with the increase in the world elderly population. It is expected that the elderly population in Sri Lanka will be 27.6 percent in year 2050 which was 9.3 percent in year 2000. With the increase in the population of elders, elderly care becomes an important social welfare area which the government needs to concentrate on, similar to free education and health care.

Elderly care or simply elder care is the fulfillment of the special needs and requirements that are unique to senior citizens. This broad term encompasses such services as, assisted living, adult day care, long term care, nursing homes and hospital care. Because of the wide variety of elderly care systems found globally, and differentiating cultural perspectives on elderly citizens, the subject cannot be limited to any one practice. For example, many countries in Asia do not use government-established elderly care frequently, preferring the traditional methods of being cared for by younger generations of family members.

Legal Aid Commission chairman S.S. Wijeratne addressing the audience at the Management Assistants Training programme held at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research Training Institution recently. Legal Aid Commission Director General Justice Hector S. Yapa and Senior Legal Aid Commission Consultant Nelum Gamage were also present at the training programme. Picture by W. Chandradasa

Elderly care emphasizes the social and personal requirements of senior citizens who need, not only some assistance with daily activities and health care, but who desire to age with dignity.

It is also noteworthy that a large amount of global elderly care falls under the unpaid market sector. Hence the private sector appears to be reluctant to enter the field of elder care as the return is negligible.

Protection of Rights’ of Elders’ Act No.9 of 2000 enacted with all party support was the first attempt to recognize the challenges forced by senior citizens. The Law however, established the National Council of Elders’ to organize over 6,500 village elders societies and provide them with service resources to develop self-employment programmes. Village based elders societies could be considered a success as they have generated programmes on their own. However, organization of elders’ societies has to be restructured, so that the wealth, experience and talent lying unused with elders are harnessed for the development of our country.

Recently the existing Public Assistance Monthly Allowance (PAMA) of rupees 300 was increased up to rupees 1000 per month for elders who are aged 70 years and above, and currently beneficiary of PAMA and also beneficiary of Samurdhi family including single parent Samurdhi beneficiaries who are receiving rupees 250 and rupees 375. Simultaneously home based care services for elders similar to family health service will be expanded and also geriatric wards at Base and Ayurvedic hospitals will be developed.

As per the information submitted by Provincial Directors and Social Services (PDSS), PAMA beneficiaries are 164,167 and single headed Samurdhi beneficiaries are 65,725 and it is estimated that 229,892 elderly persons are eligible to receive monthly allowance of rupees 1,000 islandwide. In this regard, it has been decided to implement the proposed PAMA payment scheme through the National Savings Bank and the Post Office network so as to ensure the correct beneficiary is being paid at Grama Niladhari division level.

Initially savings account of each beneficiary is to be opened at zero level until the first payment and if the beneficiary is physically not fit post offices could permit to open a joint account.

The national identity card or the elders’ identity card of the beneficiary should be accepted when the payments are made at the post office and also a special sticker will be affixed on the front page of the pass book for easy identification. A unit code will be given to the recipient when opening the account to identify the account as a special one.

This increment in elders’ allowance will be much more helpful to the elders, and let us hope that the government will definitely expand facilities for the elders’ in the near future.

- Ealilmolle
Rajagulendra,
Project Officer, Programme Support Unit, Legal Aid Commission

[ Questions and Answers]

Ombudsman in Sri Lanka

Question: What are the rules that will guide or bind the Ombudsman in Sri Lanka?

Answer: The Ombudsman is entitled to follow any procedure considered appropriate.

The Ombudsman will be guided by the evidence placed before him/her, principles of Insurance Law and Practice, Directives issued by the IBSL and the Codes of conduct and Manual of Procedures used by the insurance institution in question.

The Ombudsman is more concerned with what is just and equitable and will always act in the interest of justice in each case.

While a Lawyer/Attorney-at-Law can draft your complaint or help you to draft your complaint, no lawyer is normally permitted to appear before the Ombudsman. You cannot make a complaint to the Ombudsman if:

You have previously made a complaint and the matter was investigated by the Ombudsman and a decision given.

Where a similar matter/complaint was investigated by the Ombudsman and a decision given. That decision will apply to you unless the facts of your complaint are quite different.

Your complaint is already the subject matter of proceedings before any Court of Law/Tribunal/Arbitration etc.

The Ombudsman also has the right to reject and/or not proceed to inquire into any complaint if in the Ombudsman’s opinion:

The complaint is frivolous/vexatious or was made in bad faith or without sufficient cause.

The complaint is of a complicated nature which requires consideration of elaborate documentary and oral evidence or involved complicated legal issues which are not appropriate for an inquiry or decision by a person such as the Ombudsman.

Ombudsman Award

Question: How does the Ombudsman inquire into and settle a dispute and what Award can the Ombudsman make?

Answer: When the Ombudsman’s Office receives a complaint it will first satisfy itself that the complaint conforms with the Rules. If the Ombudsman is satisfied that the complaint is worthy of investigation, the Ombudsman’s office will get all the necessary information and documents from the complainant and the relevant insurance institution.

The Ombudsman Office will then endeavour to promote a settlement of the complaint/dispute to the satisfaction of the complainant.

Any award made by the Ombudsman up to Rs. 500,000 is binding on the insurance company. When setting up the Insurance Ombudsman scheme, all insurance companies participating in the scheme, agreed to be bound by any Award up to Rs. 500,000.

If any Award of the Ombudsman is over Rs. 500,000 the insurance company can if they so wish contest such Award in an Arbitration or in a Litigation with the complainant.

However in such a case, the Insurance companies have agreed that the Ombudsman’s Award etc can be produced in evidence without objection by the insurance company at such Arbitration or Litigation.

Apart from Awards which are binding as aforesaid, the Ombudsman can also give written opinions as to his view, on the complaint and what is fair and just in the circumstances of each case.

Ombudsman

Answer: There is no charge or fee to submit a complaint to the Ombudsman. The Rules or the Ombudsman Scheme provides for a fee of Rs. 250. This fee of Rs. 250 was levied to prevent frivolous complaints.

However, now no fee need to be paid or submitted with the complaint but the Ombudsman will reject and not inquire into any frivolous complaints.

Checking application status by SMS

Question: Can we check the National Identity Card Application status by sending SMS to the Registration of Persons Department (RPD)?

Answer: Yes, now you can check the National Identity Card Application status by sending SMS to the Registration of Persons Department (RPD). You need to type ‘RPD STS Application Number’ and send to 1919.

Community Based Corrections Act No. 46 of 1999

Question: What are the factors considered in assigning unpaid community work under the community based corrections Act No. 46 of 1999?

Answer: According to the community based corrections Act no. 46 of 1999 Section 10 states that “In assigning the unpaid community work to be performed by an offender in respect of whom a community based correction order has been entered, the officer in charge of the community corrections center specified in such order shall have regard to the age, health, education and religious and cultural beliefs of the offender, the distance of the proposed work site from the residence or place of employment of the offender and the possible interruption of the education or employment of the offender.

Testamentary case

Question: When a person die without transferring his property to his children and wife, What steps can they take?

Answer: Yes, a new law has been introduced by Civil Procedure Code Amendment Act N o 11 of 2010. According to section 11 of this new Act the earlier legal position has been changed. An Extract is given below.

Section 545 of the principal enactment is hereby repealed and the following section substituted therefore;

No person shall effect any transfer of any property movable or immovable, in Sri Lanka, belonging to or included in, the estate or effects of any person dying testate or intestate in or out of Sri Lanka within five years prior to the effecting of the transfer, unless grant of probate has been issued in the case of a person dying testate, or letters of administration or certificates of heirship have been issued in the case of a person dying intestate and leaving an estate amounting to, or exceeding four million rupees (Rs. 4 Million) in value.

Traffic offence

Question: I was unable to attend a magistrate court on due date for a traffic offence, what shall I do?

Answer: Either you can call over at the relevant Police Station to obtain the next date or motion be submitted to the Magistrate Courts where traffic cases are taken up and conclude the case.

You must also find out the order from the Police Station whether you were re-summoned or warrant issued.

The best way of sorting out of a similar problem is to retain attorney-at -law in order to file motion. Remember to honour the court date.

Survey plan

Question: What is the importance of having a survey plan in a partition action. Please advice.

Answer: In land and partition actions, plans and reports of surveyors do a very significant role in proving and disproving fact in issues.

In a partition case, it is imperative to have a preliminary plan and report prepared before the hearing.

But when a party seeks to survey a larger land or exclusion of land or dispute the identity of the corpus it is very important to obtain commissions on surveyors to identify and superimpose such land before proceeding to the trial, as a court would be always be hesitant to issue a commissions once the trial is commenced, although it has power to do so even at the conclusion of the trial.

It has been a common ground observed in partition and land actions by Appellate Courts, that practitioners without due regard to the importance of such surveys, without such evidence being produced attempts have been unsuccessfully made to secure orders or judgments in their favour.

In partition law, Sections 16 to 19 deal with such surveys while the following Sections 428 and 669 of the Civil Procedure Code with very wide discretion empowers the court to issue commissions to carry out the following activities:

“428. In any action or proceeding in which the court deems a local investigation to be requisite or proper for the elucidating any matter in dispute, or of ascertaining the market value of any property, or the amount of any means profits or damages annual net profits, and the same cannot be conveniently conducted by the judge in person, the court may issue a commission to such person as it thinks fit, directing him to make such investigation and to report to the court”.

“669. The court may, on the application of any party to an action, and on such terms as it thinks fit.

make an order for the detention, preservation, or inspection and survey of any property being the subject of such action;

for all or any of the purposes aforesaid authorize any person to enter upon or into any land or building in the possession of any other party to such action; and for all or any of the purposes aforesaid authorize any samples to be taken or any observation to be made, or experiment to be tried, which may seem necessary or expedient for the purpose of obtaining full information or evidence.

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission

Question: What are the services, provided by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission for the general public?

Answer: Consumers could complain to Telecommunications Regulatory Commission on various issues relating to the services provided by all operators.

The Consumers could make complaints to the Commission on many issues for example:- Billing, Directory information services/Inquiries.

Quality of service

Services for people with disabilities.
Functioning of emergency call numbers.
Public pay phones.
Premium Rate Services regarding consumer protection.
New telephone installations. for example:- delays

The Internal Committee for Resolution of Consumer Complaints (ICRCC) was appointed by the Commission under section 9 of the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Act No:25 of 1991 as amended by Act No:27 of 1996.

(1) Where a subscriber to a telecommunication service or a member of the public makes a complaint to the Commission in relation to the telecommunication service provided by an operator, the Commission may make such investigation as it may deem necessary and shall cause such remedial measures to be taken as the circumstances of the case may require.

(2) In the course of any investigation under subsection (1) the Commission may direct such operator to take such steps as it appears to it to be necessary for the rectification of any cause or matter which gave rise to the complaint and direct that financial redress be provided where appropriate.

(3) Every complaint made under subsection (1) shall be in writing and shall set out clearly the reasons therefore.

At the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission the Consumer Relations Unit is responsible for handling consumer complaints and the complaints which cannot be solved by the Consumer Relations Unit are submitted to the Committee for final resolution.

The inquiries are conducted in an absolutely transparent manner and parties to the disputes are invited for the hearing. ALL parties are given equal opportunities to speak and they do have the right to ask questions from each other.

The minutes are recorded and sent to the parties and the recommendations of the Committee are submitted to the Commission for a final decision.

The Committee has at all times insisted that all officers whose presence is required for the inquiry should be present with all the necessary information and documents relating to the dispute.

Many important decisions have been taken by the Committee so far. Recently the Committee inquired in to complaints made by several consumers on excessive bills for International Direct Dialing facility (IDD) provided by Sri Lanka Telecom.

It was brought to the notice of the Committee that this occurred due to Internet Dumping/Modem Hijacking.

At the request of the chairperson of the Committee Sri Lanka Telecom provided three telephone numbers toll free to Sri Lanka Telecom customers. This is a great benefit to the consumers as they will not be required to pay for the calls taken by them to follow up on a written complaint made by them to the Commission.

Police clearance certificate

Answer : You can apply for a police clearance certificate from the Police head quarters.

The application form received form Police headquarters should be perfected properly and handed over at the counter.

Foreign applicants could down load the Application form from the web site, perfect same and hand it over to the Sri Lanka High Commission of their country.

Foreign applicants could also submit their down loaded and correctly perfected applications individually, direct to the Inspector-General of Police, Police headquarters, Colombo 1

Applicants handing over their applications at police Headquarters should pay a sum of Rs. 500 and obtain a receipt for same.

Foreign applicants should pay a sum equivalent to Sri Lanka Rs. 1000 at the Sri Lankan High commission in their country and obtain a receipt for same.

Foreign applicants submitting their application individually direct to Inspector General of Police should send a draft or cheque equivalent to the sum of Sri Lanka Rs. 1,000 to A/C No. 007041413 payable at Taprobane Branch, Bank of Ceylon, Colombo 1, Sri Lanka. The Police Clearance Certificate would be sent direct to the applicant.

Foreign applicants could sent an application through Sri Lankan High Commission should pay a sum equivalent to Sri Lankan Rs. 1,000 at the Sri Lankan High Commission in their country and obtain a receipt for same.

In case there being no Sri Lanka Embassy/High Commission, fill up the application and send with a remittance to the equivalent of Rs.1,000 in respect of each application.

The remittance should be drawn in favour of the Inspector General of Police, Sri Lanka.

The application(s) and the remittance should be sent under registered post to the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Police headquarters, Colombo - 1, Sri Lanka.

The application should be perfected. The applicant should write his/her address, periods and the Police area. During the period he/She lived in Sri Lanka correctly.

The under mentioned documents are collected by the Police Headquarters to compile the Clearance Certificate.

The applicant need not to concern about this. Once all the documents are received the certificate could be issued.

Reports from the Officer in Charge of the Police Station. (Relevant Police Stations)

[Insurance Ombudsman Scheme]

Answer: The following are matters on which a complaint can be made under the Ombudsman Scheme

b) Inequitable or unjust interpretation or application of the terms and conditions of the insurance policy with regard to the following:

i) Claims including maturities of long-term insurance policies(ii) Premium payable and Premium refunds(iii) Other benefits payable in terms of the insurance policy

c) Any other relevant matters that may be specified or referred to the Ombudsman by the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) or the Consumer Affairs Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL).

e) Complaints by registered/licensed Insurance Brokers against Insurance Companies and vice versa. Also complaints relating to Insurance Agents working for Insurance Institutions. These powers are intended for the good of the insurance industry.

Complaints relating to the violation of directives of the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka in relation to insurance services. Complaints directed to the Ombudsman for investigation, settlement and/or report by the Consumer Affairs Authority under the Consumer Affairs Authority Act No. 9 of 2003.

Govt support for senior citizens