UNESCO Scholarship Fund Act 1999

This Act may be cited as the UNESCO Scholarship

Fund Act, No.44 of 1999.

There shall be established a Fund to be called the

The Fund shall by the name assigned to it by sub-Section (1) be a body corporate and shall have perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue and be sued in such name.

The Government may donate from time to time grants to the Fund for the purpose of enabling it to carry out the objects of the Fund.

The administration, management and control of the Fund shall be vested in a Board of Management constituted as hereinafter provided.

The Board of Management of the Fund (hereinafter referred to as the “Board”) shall consist of –

The Chairman may revoke the appointment of any member appointed by him under paragraph (j) of subsection(2).

Any member of the Board appointed under paragraph (j) of subsection (2), may at any time resign from the Board by a letter in that behalf addressed to the Chairman.

In the absence of the Chairman from any meeting of the Board, any member elected from among the members present, shall preside at such meeting.

The quorum for a meeting of the Board shall be four members.

Subject to the provisions of subsection (6), the

No act or proceeding of the Board shall be deemed to be invalid by reason only of the existence of a vacancy among its members or any defect in the appointment of a member thereof.

The Board shall, have the power -

to receive grants, gifts or donations in cash or in kind, whether from local or foreign sources ;

to take or hold any movable property which may become vested in it by this Act or by virtue of any purchase, grant, gift or otherwise and to sell, grant or otherwise dispose of, any movable property to which the Fund may become entitled ;

to award scholarships for the furtherance of the objects of the Fund ;

to enter into or perform, either directly or through officers and servants or agents authorised in writing in that behalf by the Board, all such contracts and agreements as may be necessary for the exercise, performance and discharge of the powers, duties and functions, and in carrying out the objects, of the Fund ;

subject to the provisions of this Act, to appoint, employ and remunerate such officers and servants as may be necessary for the administration of the affairs of the Fund, and to make rules regarding the appointment, promotion, remuneration and disciplinary control of such officers and servants and the grant of leave and other benefits to them ;

to invest monies belonging to the Fund and to recall.

to make rules in relation to all matters connected with the administration of the Fund.

With effect from the date of commencement of this

Act, all monies lying to the credit of -

Account No.6,000-0-0-6-65 (UNESCO Fund) at the

savings of foreign or local grants, shall vest in the Fund.

The Board shall maintain an account called “The

UNESCO Scholorship Fund Account” at a licensed

Commercial Bank within the meaning of the Banking Act, No.30

of 1988 and there shall be credited to such account -

all monies which are vested in the Fund by reason of the operation of section 5 ;

any grants, gifts or donations of money made to the Fund ;

any income from investments or other receipts due to the Fund ; or

any income from sale of books and other income from various fund raising activities carried out by the Fund ;

all other monies that may accrue to the Fund after the date of commencement of this Act.

The Secretary General of the Sri Lanka National

Commission for UNESCO shall, subject to the direction of the

Board, be the Chief Administrative Officer of the Fund.

It shall be the duty of the Board to apply the monies belonging to the Fund mainly for the following objects :-

to award scholarship to disabled and displaced children ;

to meet expenses in publishing books for sale.

The Board shall cause proper books of accounts to be kept of the income and expenditure and all other transactions of the Fund.

The provisions of Article 154 of the

The Board shall, at the end of every year, prepare a report on the administration of the affairs of the

The financial year of the Fund shall be the calendar year.

The Minister in charge of the subject of Education may, with the concurrence of the Minister in charge of the subject of Finace, exempt the Fund from payment of any customs duty on any goods imported by the Fund. if the import of such goods in considered by him to be conducive of the advancement of the objects of the Fund.

At the requset of the Board any officer in the public service may,. with the consent of that officer and the

Where any officer in the public service is temporarily appointed to the staff of the Fund, the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 14 of the National Transport

Where any officer in the public service is permanently appointed to the staff of the Fund, the provisions of subsection (3) of section 14 of the National Transport

Where the Board employs any person who has entered into a contract with the Government by which he has agreed to serve the Government for a specified period , any period of service to the Fund by that person shall be regarded as service to the Government for the purpose of discharging the obligations of such contract

The Board may make such rules as it may consider necessary in relation to any matter affecting or connected with, or incidental, to the exercise and performance of its powers, duties and functions.

All officers and servants of the Fund shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning, and for the purposes, of the Penal Code.

The Fund shall be deemed to be a Scheduled

Institution within the meaning of the Bribery Act and the provisions of that Act shall be construed accordingly.

In the event of any inconsistency between the Sinhala and Tamil texts of this Act, the Sinhala text shall prevail.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

“Disabled child” means a child of school going age who is physically or mentally handicapped ;

“Displaced child” means a child of school going age who is abandoned by his or her parents or, whose parents have no means to educate him or her, or whose parents are dead, or whose surviving parent has no means to educate him or her.