Sri Lankan court tells OAP to work

The court said sorry, but it had no power to help Mr Dissanayake

Sri Lanka's top electoral official, who has passed retirement age and wants to call it a day after 33 years of service and five heart attacks, has been ordered to carry on working by the Supreme Court.

The court told Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake, 61, he cannot retire because of a "constitutional aberration".

Mr Dissanayake says he is tired of overseeing Sri Lanka's troubled and frequently violent elections, and wants a rest.

His last big task was the general election of December 2001 in which 61 people were killed.

Compensation claim

The problem was created with a constitutional amendment that was passed almost two years ago which called for a new election commission to be set up with more powers.

The amendment stated that Mr Dissanayake had to stay in office until this new agency was created, and a new head commissioner had been appointed.

This has not yet been done and it is still unclear when a new election commission will be formed.

The BBC's Anna Horsbrugh-Porter says critics blame Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga for dragging her feet over appointing the new commission.

Mrs Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe are constantly battling over who runs the country, she says.

Mr Dissanayake entered government service in 1970 and assumed his current post in February 1995.

He says that being forced to stay on is a violation of his human rights and he is claming $100,000 in compensation.

The Supreme Court judges said in their ruling on Thursday that they felt sorry for Mr Dissanayake but had no power to interfere with the constitution.