The Supreme Court has sentenced former National Institute of Education (NIE) Director I.G.S. Premathilaka to six years of rigorous imprisonment after finding him guilty of contempt of court linked to the 2024 Grade 5 Scholarship Examination case.
The court additionally imposed a fine of Rs. 3 million and ordered a further one-year jail term if the fine is not paid, Newswire reported. The contempt charges arose from allegations that Premathilaka had failed to implement a Supreme Court directive issued in relation to the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination. The court held that the former NIE Director had wilfully disregarded the order, amounting to contempt of court.
The Grade 5 Scholarship Examination is the most consequential examination in Sri Lanka’s primary education system, determining placement into prestigious national schools and shaping family choices for a year afterwards. Disputes over the 2024 administration drew sustained legal challenges that reached the apex court.
A six-year rigorous imprisonment sentence is among the heaviest contempt penalties handed down to a senior public-sector education official in recent memory, signalling judicial impatience with state agencies that fail to give effect to Supreme Court orders. The ruling comes amid a wider pattern of judicial enforcement against senior officials, including the ongoing opposition pushback against new Inland Revenue Act arrest powers and active fundamental rights proceedings involving CID Director Shani Abeysekara.
