Sri Lanka, Sept. 23 -- The Supreme Court yesterday sentenced Controller General of Immigration and Emigration Harsha Ilukpitiya to two years in prison after finding him guilty of contempt of court.

The ruling was delivered by Justice Yasantha Kodagoda, with Justices Janak de Silva and Arjuna Obeysekera concurring.

In delivering the verdict, Justice Kodagoda stated that Ilukpitiya's conduct amounted to serious contempt of court.

The case arose from Ilukpitiya's failure to comply with an interim Supreme Court order that had halted the previous government's cabinet decision to privatise the electronic visa issuance process to two private firms and directed the Controller General to reverse back to the previous visa issuance system.

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