Fallouts from the Impeachment against the Chief Justice
Posted on November 5th, 2012
P.A.Samaraweera, Melbourne
At the recently concluded14th session of the UNHRC, the British Govt had referred to the Impeachment motion of the Chief Justice, Shirani Bandaranayake. According to the govt, Britain and other interested parties overseas are protesting without knowing the specific charges and without knowing much about the issue. The CJ had been impeached over alleged misconduct and malpractices. There are also allegations of corruption by her husband.
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The CJ was more an academic at the university and was a professor when Prof. G.L. Peiris was Dean of the Faculty of Law. And when she was first appointed as a Judge of the supreme court there were protests from lawyersƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ as well as judges. When the present govt appointed her as CJ, again there were protests from lawyers and judges. Senior Attorney S.L. Gunasekara went on TV and openly criticised her appointment.
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In the past, two other Chief Justices against whom Impeachment motions were lodged were Neville Samarakoon and Sarath Silva. So the opposition cannot claim that during their regime things were squeaky clean. There are mechanisms to check misconduct and malpractices of Judicial officers and public servants , including the President.Thus there is accountability in every sphere.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If so, the CJ is no exception. It had been reported that more than half of the law makers have signed the Impeachment motion. If Shirani Bandaranayake had indulged in acts considered to be unbecoming of a Chief Justice, she should face the music !ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
November 5th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
The chief justice in sri lanka presides over a justice system that takes a life time to make a decision. The ordinary people who get no justice now has taken the law unto themselves. The president has done the same. Who cares. It does not matter if she is impeached as their is no law for the ordinary people in the country. This is a country where law abiding citizens have security checks and the law breaking criminals get security.
November 5th, 2012 at 3:00 pm
I recommend everyone to read the analysis given by C.A.Chadraprema, the political commentator of Sinhala news paper Divaina.
It is republished on Lankaweb.
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2012/11/04/%E0%B7%80%E0%B6%B8%E0%B7%8A%E0%B6%89%E0%B7%80%E0%B7%94%E0%B6%BB-%E0%B7%80%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%B4%E0%B6%9A%E0%B7%8A%E2%80%8D%E0%B7%82%E0%B6%BA%E0%B6%A7-%E0%B6%B1%E0%B7%90%E0%B7%80%E0%B6%AD%E0%B6%AD/
According to Chandraprema, the supremacy battle between the Judiciary and the Legislature started only after suspension of CJ’s husband for mishandling of funds in the Employees Provident Fund (EPF)where he was the president appointed by the GOSL.
It was the UNP, headed by their Economic adviser Harasha De Silva who publicly demanded that CJ should be impeach on her husband’s corruption charges. JVP and Fonseka were in the forefront of supporting that move.
Then all of a sudden all of them are now protecting her so dearly that, it is impossible to ignore the fact that CJ could have had an underhand deal with the opposition to switch her allegiance to save her skin? A U -Turn even though the former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said The lady’s not for turning!
As Lorenzo commented, There are protests against impeachment now. Those who support 13 amendment are behind these!!
What a strange coincident !!
November 5th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
That seals it!!
Thanks for sharing NMY.
We should dig deep into the news items of UNP, JVP, Fonseka demanding the impeachment of CJ and PUBLISH those. That will stump them.
UNP is like the cat that crapped on a rock!!!
Trying to cover it will break its claws!!!
November 5th, 2012 at 3:44 pm
Not Only The Chairman Husband; Chief Justice Wife Must Also Resign!
By Uvindu Kurukulasuriya
When Justice Bandaranayake was appointed as the Chief Justice, I raised the serious conflict of interest issues relating to her. Within the Asian region, the sixth Conference of Chief Justices of Asia and the Pacific held in Beijing in August 1995 adopted the Statement of Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary. Sri Lanka was represented by the Supreme Court Judge P. R. P. Perera who voluntarily agreed to the Principles on behalf of the then Chief Justice G. P. S. De Silva. Principle 39 of the Beijing Statement says, “Inducements or benefits should not be offered to or accepted by judges if they affect, or might affect, the performance of their judicial functions.”
After all, “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.”
Opposition lawmaker and leading economist Dr. Harsha De Silva said, “This transaction exposed only the tip of the iceberg. There is a mafia in the country’s Stock Exchange and this deal has exposed a few of them and we are not going to let go. We hope the Regulators find the courage to carry out an investigation and give a fair judgement. If they do this, it will have a positive impact on the Colombo Stock Exchange, the inflow of foreign investments and the overall development of the country”. Alluding to the deal as a ‘sophisticated bank robbery, Dr. Harsha De Silva said the country needed sophisticated law enforcement officers and regulators to tackle such fraud. Dr. De Silva called for the resignation of NSB Chairman Pradeep Kariyawasam and said authorities should be allowed to carry out an impartial inquiry and punish any offenders without fear and favour.
Now, I must say the resignation of NSB Chairman Pradeep Kariyawasam is not enough, his wife must also resign! How can any investigation be carried while his wife sits as the Chief Justice?
Thesundayleader not-only-the-chairman-husband-chief-justice-wife-must-also-resign
2012-May-13
November 5th, 2012 at 6:37 pm
The ruling party is fooling the people with 13A.
Why impeach the Cheif Justice without doing anything to repeal 13A?
Government badly wants to keep 13A. Possibly give 13P. But wants to tone down 13A on money matters. Also wants the supreme court to interpret the law relating to 13A in government’s favour. That’s why the impeachment. Attention it gets from the whole episode will actually make repealing 13A more difficult.
All this effort should have been chanelled towards repealing 13A with the concurrence of the supreme court. When an action is brought, there is no way the supreme court can stop it.
SLMC, CWC and the like will support the impeachment on condition that 13A stays. SLMC support to UPFA in eastern provincial council was also based on condition that 13A stays.
November 5th, 2012 at 7:53 pm
Another mess by Prof. G.L. Peiris… He is the one recommend this CJ to the president..
November 5th, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Why impeach the Cheif Justice without doing anything to repeal 13A?
I repeat the same question. Why so stupid if the governement is honest on this ?
I agree with Dilrook that “Government badly wants to keep 13A. Possibly give 13P. But wants to tone down 13A on money matters. Also wants the supreme court to interpret the law relating to 13A in government’s favour. That’s why the impeachment. Attention it gets from the whole episode will actually make repealing 13A more difficult.”
They must have repealed the 13A first and then sack CJ.
November 5th, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Dilrook,
“Why impeach the Cheif Justice without doing anything to repeal 13A?”
Can’t you see the 2 are related?
What will happen if the govt brings 13 amendment repeal? SC with CJ will REJECT it or tell to ask the PCs!!!
With a BIASED CJ whose husband is a BIGTIME crook and whose son is a making THREATS, how can you expect a proper verdict on a matter of NATIONAL IMPORTANCE from this woman?
How can you keep a CJ whose position has been COMPROMISED due to association with corruption?
How can you do justice to the EPF fraud and NSB fraud?
“orage ammaken pena ahanawa”
Asking the thief’s mother to give the pen to write the verdict.
It doesn’t work.
Impeaching CJ is easier of the 2. When we do that, pro-13 amendment maggots creep from the woodwork. We can see who they are and appropriately handle them.
The impeachment will show who the real loyal MPs are in the govt. Even in a secret ballot, it is not difficult to identify who voted and who didn’t by asking and matching the total. It helps the govt. target the others.
e.g. IF SLMC says no scrapping 13 amendment, sack SLMC ministers. No security, no ministry, no importance, they will come BEGGING. Then tell them to either vote to scrap 13 amendment or else…….
Have some patience.
THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS.
There is a LOT of dirt that should go with 13 amendment.
November 6th, 2012 at 2:45 am
Why everybody rushing to blame the Government for everything what is happenning in the country all the time? Today’s Opposition groups are below Zero level. They have been rejected by majority of the population in every elections. So they simply give hard time to the Government without any reason. They are real Heynas making noise just just for the sake of noise.When we were winning the war also those in the Opposition were barking like wild dogs and making all lies for others to hear. We know very well who these people are and we know who this Fonseka,Anura Kumara,Ranil and the clowns and what they are intensions. So please give some time for this Government to breath after all the bloodshed we had for thirty long years. Let the Government solve all the problems in a democratic way as they have always done in the past. All this CJ talks are not new. It was there in previous times and we overcame all those difficult times. So stop all these unneccessary arguments and fighting instead let’s build our country which was devastaed for long years. Unity and hard work is what we need at this hour.So be it.
November 6th, 2012 at 3:48 am
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Divineguma Bill has to be passed with two third majority in Parliament and Clause 8 has to be approved at a referendum and also two third majority in Parliament, Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa announced in Parliament a short while ago.
November 6th, 2012 at 4:07 am
It is noticeable that Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem and Prof G L Peiris were not signatories to the Impeachment Notice.
In fact none of the lawyers of Govt MP’s have signed the motion – eg Champika Ranawaka, Fowzie, Namal Rajapakse.- I wonder why?
November 6th, 2012 at 5:58 am
Since the involvement of the SC&CJ is because of the 13-A (and partly Mr Kariyawasam, CJ’s husband), the main focus is on the 13-A :
Removal of 13-A : Is it better to do it through a Referendum through the People or have Parliament remove it through 2/3 majority ?
If through a Referendum, then the People would have participated in the process, weighed the pros and cons, educated themselves on governing processes, and decided what is best for their own progress – (see Dr Gavin Karunaratne’s article on 13-A : “The 13-A : Devolution of Powers …” ). This would be high Democracy in practice.
If through Parliament, then It would seem that GoSL made the decision all by itself.
Which path is better ?
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Lorenzo,
Your quotation is a good one, (horage ammagen penna eli ahanawa), but the translation should read as : ask the thief’s mother, who is a clairvoyant (‘light reader’), who the thief is !
November 6th, 2012 at 6:32 am
Anyone read the Impeachment Charges against CJ?
or are we simply embarrassed to even mention it?
November 6th, 2012 at 6:39 am
Shirani was apponted by Mahinda and not by Manmohan. You donkeys better ask Mahinda to resign.
November 6th, 2012 at 7:50 am
M.S.MUDALI
but how our MR know she will screw him once she got job!!!
so better ask Manmohan to resign make more sence? because 13A imposed by Indian congress !!!
make sence !!!! not to me !!!
November 6th, 2012 at 8:40 am
Don’t understand the Chief Justice episode, however getting rid of bad legislation like 13A which gives separatists and international meddlers in Sri Lanka a foothold has to be a good thing.