Balasubramaniam Deniswaran ( ta, பாலசுப்பிரமணியம் டெனிஸ்வரன்) is a

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern ...

lawyer, politician and former provincial minister.

Career

Deniswaran is lawyer. He contested the 2013 provincial council election as one of the

Tamil National Alliance The Tamil National Alliance ( ta, தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு ISO 15919: ''tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu''; TNA) is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lankan ...

's candidates in

Mannar District Mannar District ( ta, மன்னார் மாவட்டம் ''Maṉṉār Māvaṭṭam''; si, මන්නාරම දිස්ත්‍රික්කය) is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative divisi ...

and was elected to the

Northern Provincial Council Northern Provincial Council ( ta, வட மாகாண சபை ''Vaṭa Mākāṇa Capai''; NPC) is the provincial council for the Northern Province in Sri Lanka. In accordance with the Sri Lankan constitution, NPC has legislative power over ...

. After the election he was appointed Minister of Fisheries, Transport, Trade and Rural Development. He took his oath as minister and provincial councillor in front of

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

C. V. Vigneswaran Canagasabapathy Visuvalingam Vigneswaran, PC ( ta, கனகசபாபதி விசுவலிங்கம் விக்னேஸ்வரன், translit=Kaṉakacapāpati Vicuvaliṅkam Vikṉēsvaraṉ; si, කනකසභාපත� ...

Veerasingam Hall Co-operator Veerasingam Hall ( ta, கூட்டுறவாளர் வீரசிங்கம் மண்டபம், si, වීරසිංහම් ශාලාව; commonly known as Veerasingam Hall) is a public hall/office building in ...

on 11 October 2013.

Dismissal

Starting in late 2016, several charges of irregular practices were levelled against the four provincial ministers for Northern Province. Chief Minister Vigneswaran appointed a three-member committee consisting of retired judge S. Thiyakenthiran (chair), retired judge S. Paramarajah and retired District Secretary S. Patmanathan to investigate the charges. In June 2017 the NPC was plunged into chaos after Chief Minister Vigneswaran asked

P. Ayngaranesan Ponnudurai Ayngaranesan ( ta, பொன்னுத்துரை ஐங்கரநேசன், translit=Poṉṉutturai Aiṅkaranēcaṉ) is a Sri Lankan Tamil environmentalist, politician and former provincial minister. Early life and fam ...

and

T. Kurukularajah Thambirajah Kurukularajah ( ta, தம்பிராசா குருகுலராஜா, translit=Tampirācā Kurukularājā) is a Sri Lankan Tamil civil servant, politician and former provincial minister. Early life and family Kurukulara ...

to resign after the three-member committee found evidence to substantiate charges of corruption, abuse of power and misuse of funds levelled against the two ministers. Vigneswaran also requested that the two other ministers, Deniswaran and

P. Sathiyalingam Pathmanathan Sathiyalingam ( ta, பத்மநாதன் சத்தியலிங்கம்) is a Sri Lankan Tamil people, Sri Lankan Tamil physician, politician and former provincial minister. Early life and family Sathiyalingam is th ...

, who had been exonerated by the committee, to go on

leave Leave may refer to: * Permission (disambiguation) ** Permitted absence from work *** Leave of absence, a period of time that one is to be away from one's primary job while maintaining the status of employee *** Annual leave, allowance of time a ...

. On 14 June 2017 a

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

against Vigneswaran was handed to

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Reginald Cooray Reginald Cooray (12 November 1947 – 13 January 2023) was a Sri Lankan teacher and politician. He was a provincial chief minister, a government minister, and governor of the Northern Province. He was briefly governor of the Central Province ...

by several ITAK and opposition members of the NPC. This resulted in the

Tamil People's Council Tamil People's Council is a diverse forum consisting of academics, religious leaders, members from the Civil society and political parties. It has been formed to promote Sri Lankan Tamil people's interests. It is headed by Northern Province Chief ...

, led by Vigneswaran, organising

hartal Hartal () is a term in many Indian languages for a strike action that was first used during the Indian independence movement (also known as the nationalist movement) of the early 20th century. A hartal is a mass protest, often involving a total s ...

s across Northern Province in support of Vigneswaran. Following mediation by religious leaders a compromise was agreed between Vigneswaran and the ITAK/TNA leadership on 19 June 2017 whereby Vigneswaran would withdraw the request for Deniswaran and Sathiyalingam to go on leave and in return ITAK would withdraw the motion of no confidence against Vigneswaran. The central committee of

Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) is an Eelam Tamil organisation which campaigned for the establishment of an independent Tamil Eelam in the northeast of Sri Lanka during 1972-1987 which later accepted the December 19th proposals. Th ...

met on 20 August 2017 and suspended Deniswaran from the party for six months. He was removed from his ministerial position on 23 August 2017. Deniswaran has however written to Cooray, challenging the legality of the removal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deniswaran, B. Fisheries ministers of Sri Lankan provinces Living people Members of the Northern Province Board of Ministers Politicians from Northern Province, Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan lawyers Tamil politicians Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization politicians Tamil National Alliance politicians Trade ministers of Sri Lankan provinces Transport ministers of Sri Lankan provinces Year of birth missing (living people)