NIE chief who leaked scholarship questions defaulted on three million compensation payment

The Supreme Court has issued an order to the Attorney General to file contempt of court charges against Mr. I.G.S. Prematilake, a former director of the National Institute of Education.

This order was issued based on an incident where he failed to implement a previous Supreme Court judgment against him within the stipulated time frame.

The background to this incident is the premature leakage of three questions from a question paper related to the Grade Five Scholarship Examination held in 2024. In response, a group of parents of children who sat for the examination filed four fundamental rights petitions before the Supreme Court, and the court, after hearing the petitions, delivered its final verdict on December 31, 2024.

By that final verdict, the Supreme Court had ordered Mr. I.G.S. Prematilake to pay a compensation of three million rupees to the government from his personal wealth, as he was responsible for the violation of fundamental human rights. It was further ordered that the said amount should be paid within a period of four weeks from the date of the judgment.

However, it was revealed in court today (23) that despite the lapse of the stipulated four-week period, the respondent Mr. Prematilake has not acted in accordance with the order. Accordingly, after considering a request made to take action against him under the charge of contempt of court, this new order was announced by the three-member Supreme Court bench led by Justice Preethi Padman Sooriyasena.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court, which ordered the Attorney General to file charges against the said respondent, has also informed Mr. Prematilake to appear before the court on March 26 next year.