Discussions on the government taking over the Ambuluwawa Fund, inherited from father to son

The Ministry of Buddhasasana, the Ministry of Justice, and the Attorney General's Department have jointly commenced discussions to make the necessary legal amendments for the Ambuwawa Trust Fund to be taken over by the government. The government has been prompted to take this step due to various issues that have arisen regarding the functioning of this Trust Fund.

This Trust Fund is governed by the Ambuwawa Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Jayaratne Religious Centre and Biodiversity Complex Trust Fund Act No. 44 of 2009. The Public Trustee has transferred the relevant land to the fund through a trust deed, and information has been revealed that the Trust Fund has violated the conditions stipulated in that deed. According to Section 19 of that Act, the founder of Ambuwawa should be the Honorable Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Jayaratne, and Section 16 states that upon the death of the founder, his son should assume the position, and thereafter, the eldest male descendant in the lineage should be the successor.

The functioning of this Trust Fund, which consists of seven members appointed by the founder, has been severely criticized over the past period. It has been revealed that the manner in which it is governed, the method by which land has been allocated, and the way government funds have been invested in development activities in Ambuwawa are serious issues. Specifically, over 600 million rupees of government funds have been spent on this, and the fact that no action has yet been taken regarding the audit reports related to it is also a problematic situation.

However, officials from the Ministry of Buddhasasana, the Ministry of Justice, the Attorney General's Department, and other relevant institutions are currently holding discussions on how to proceed with this process. The main focus of these discussions is on implementing these activities without causing any harm to the tourism industry.