Venerable Theeniyawala Palitha Thera has been appointed as a member of the board of directors of the Lanka Hospitals PLC.
The Lanka Hospitals PLC which came under the purview of the Finance Ministry appointed a 13 member board to manage the institution. Ven. Theeniyawala Palitha Thera is the chief incumbent of Nalandaramaya
Temple in Nugegoda and a prominent member of the United National Party's National Bhikkhu Front.
Ven. Palitha Thera had been a prominent activist against corruption and was in the forefront of the campaign to probe the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation' s hedging deal and against the increase in electricity tariffs by the Ceylon Electricity Board.
He was closely backed by new Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake in most of these cases.
Minister Karunanayake said on February 20 that a 13 member Board of Directors, including Dr. Sarath Paranavithana as chairman, Deputy Secretary of the Sri Lanka Mahabodhi Society Ven. Theeniyawala Palitha Thera and Dilani Lokuhetti have been nominated and would be announced within a few days.
Lanka Hospitals PLC enters history as the first Listed Company at the Colombo Stock Exchange to have a Buddhist monk on its Board of Directors.