Romesh de Silva PC defends Hayleys Free Zone

The Writ Petition seeking a Court Order directing legal action to be taken against the parties liable for the waste containers was heard at the Court of Appeal yesterday.

During the hearing, Romesh de Silva PC, addressing the Court, clarified the position of Hayleys Free Zone Ltd., and stated that in view of the fact that Hayleys Free Zone has never transported any cargo within Sri Lanka other than for the purposes of re-export, and since Hayleys Free Zone had no intention whatever to transport cargo other than for the purposes of re-export, that he had no objection to the interim being issued. 

In the course of submissions, De Silva further submitted to the Court that Hayleys Free Zone does only a minor processing of the cargo, and re-exports the separated components of the used mattresses to entities provided to Hayleys Free Zone by the owner, for which Hayleys Free Zone only receives a processing fee.  He also submitted that there is no evidence brought before the Court which in any way or manner brings the application of the environmental law in respect to the process performed by Hayleys Free Zone. De Silva also submitted that he had informed the Court of all of the above on the very first day this matter was heard in the Court. In those circumstances, de Silva also stated that on notice being issued, Hayleys Free Zone will file a Statement of Objections, bringing to the attention of the Court the role played by Hayleys Free Zone, and the fact that it had not violated any law nor caused any damage to the environment. 

De Silva further stated that Hayleys Free Zone had already commenced the process of re-containerising the cargo prior to this case being filed.