The teachers' union at Sri Lanka's Sri Jayewardenepura University has decided to initiate a trade union action demanding the reinstatement of a dismissed colleague.The teachers' union which is affiliated to the Federation of University Teachers' Associations (FUTA) says the Senate of Sri Jayewardenepura University which will meet on June 13th needs to reinstate the sacked lecturer Anuruddha Pradeep Karnasooriya.
The union says that the administration of the university had sacked lecturer Anuruddha Pradeep on the grounds of not submitting his post graduate thesis on time while the dean of the Social Sciences Faculty verifies he has submitted within the time frame.
Karnasooriya, who was a probationary lecturer since 2005, was required to submit his Master's thesis within 8 years after joining the university and the deadline was March 9, 2013.
He has submitted his thesis on March 1, 2013 but the University Senate was informed the date of submission was March 20, 2013.
The FUTA says since Karnasooriya was a vociferous activist against Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake's attempts to privatize the university education, the University senate has been pressured to terminate his employment.
Karnasooriya is an activist of the government coalition party Jathika Hela Urumaya but he campaigned against the private universities and participated in the salary struggle of the FUTA.
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