A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, July 29, 2017
More lawyers push BASL over judicial independence et al
Kodituwakku
Kodituwakku
by Shamindra Ferdinando-July 28, 2017, 11:14 pm
A
section of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) membership has
called for special general meeting to discuss ways and means of
preventing continuing intimidation of judges, undermining of judicial
independence, inordinate delay in implementation of laws and seriously
disappointing administration of justice as well as rule of law.
A list containing 30 signatures of lawyers representing BASL branch
associations had been tendered to Amal Randeniya, Secretary to the BASL,
in addition to a list of 104 signatures submitted earlier seeking an
early special general meeting.
A spokesperson for the group told The Island that the additional list
had to be tendered in accordance with the Article 12 A of the BASL
Constitution as the BASL had asserted the original list didn’t meet
requirement to call for special general meeting.
The attorney-at-law said that as they were keen to take up issues
pertaining to the judiciary, the BASL could provide for, what he called
an opportunity to discuss contentious matters, including the appointment
of defeated and rejected candidates through the National List on the
basis of inclusion of a flawed clause through devious means to the
Article 99A of the Constitution at the behest of the then President J.R.
Jayewardene. The Article 99 A of the Constitution was meant to ensure
that those who had been named in respective National List of political
parties tendered to the Elections Commissioner in the run-up to
parliamentary polls were appointed as National List members.
Attorney-at-law Nagananda Kodituwakku told The Island yesterday that he
expected BASL to summon proposed special general meeting in early Sept
as he was leaving for the UK over the weekend for a month long stay
there.
Kodituwakku said he was pushing for a bench of ten Supreme Court judges
to determine the writ application filed against the Commissioner of
Elections on Oct 13, 2015 regarding the appointment of those who hadn’t
been qualified in terms of the recommendations made by Parliamentary
Select Committee (PSC) headed by the then Prime Minister Ranasinghe
Premadasa.
Kodituwakku has complained that though his writ application should have
been disposed of within two months filing of the case in terms of
Article 104H of the Constitution, tangible measures were yet to be taken
nearly two years after him seeking Supreme Court intervention.
On behalf of those who had been seeking BASL intervention to secure 10
judge bench on the National List issue, Kodituwakku, who also holds
British citizenship, has written to Secretary General, Patricia
Scotland, QC, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth Secretariat, London.
Kodituwakku has sought a meeting with the Commonwealth Secretariat to
discuss the situation here as Sri Lanka as a member of the Commonwealth
couldn’t pursue policies detrimental to much touted Latimar Principles.
Commenting on his decision to take judicial independence here with the
Commonwealth Secretariat, Kodituwakku said that the UK couldn’t turn a
blind eye to what was happening here against the backdrop of UK
committing funds to strengthen the Commission to Investigate Allegations
of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC). Kodituwakku, in his latter, has
explained the circumstances under which the change of government had
taken place in January, 2015 and the subsequent failure on the part of
the new administration to honour commitments given to the international
community, including Britain.