Do our Judges follow  the  great wisdom of Kakille Rajjuruvo or Maha Danamutta to solve political  problem ?
Posted on December 15th, 2018

By Charles S.Perera

A Gamarala  and his family were locked up in their home surrounded by Alibaba and 40 thieves coming from the  cavern under temple trees and making impossible demands.  The Gamarala  sent a message to  Maha Danamutta asking for  a solution and  liberate him and his family. Maha Danamutta and his goloyo said they want time to receive visitors and count what they receive before they  find a solution to liberate the Gamarala and his family. In the mean time  Alibaba and his 40 thieves were making Gamaralas life miserable.

Maha Danamutta  took his own time looked into the books as even the judges  always read most of the old judicial decision of  Kakille Rajjuruvo and more those of Maha Danamutta. Maha Danamutta  considered the case of the Goat’s head stuck in a pot and how wise was his solution. But that entails cutting the heads of Gamarala and all his family.

Then  Maha Danamutta thought that he would  go on his elephant to meet the Gamarala and discuss the matter, but then he may have to get Gamarala to break the wall in front to allow him and his elephant to go inside, but thought otherwise as he  thought that it may cause damage to him and his Goloys, and thought of other solutions.

Maha Danamutta  discussed long with his Goloyo Polbamoona, Kotukithaiah, Indikatu Pancha, Rabboda Aiya and Puvak Badilla they had all their ideas which Maha Danamutta took into consideration. Polbamoona spoke up suggesting  a long lockup of Gamarala and his family  for  four and half years, which by then would tire Alibaba and 40 thieves and stop bothering  Gamarala and his family any more. Maha Danamutta was pleased and clapped his hand in approval of his practical suggestion, and said so be it.

Like wise the SC  after long and deep  consideration came to the conclusion that the dissolution of Parliament by the President by  Gazette Notification was un-Constitutional and that the President could dissolve the parliament if he wants only after four and half years . That was a dumb solution as in any case the Parliament ceases its term of office  in four and a half years.

What a great judicial ruling which  even Mahadanamutta would have been put to shame ?

In Europe there are long Tunnels one such long tunnel is the Tunnel of Frejus which connects France and Italy. It is 12895 meters long. These tunnels have  at regular intervals on either side small doors marked Sortie or Exit. If there is a train catching fire in the middle of the tunnel (as it once happened) the tunnel will be gutted with fire and smoke  and these small exit doors  are used to evacuate the passengers from the trains out of danger from fire and smoke..

Like wise in the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka despite its short comings or if any ambitious fool were to introduce an Amendment such as 19A, and find the country in a political impasse, the Constitution has provided means to overcome the difficulty( like the Exit Doors inside tunnels).

Hence when Article 70 of the Constitution prohibits the President from dissolution of the Parliament for any reason before four and a half years even if the President is confronted with a serious  political impasse, the 1978  Constitution fortunately provides Article 33 which permits the President to dissolve the Parliament before the period specified under Article 70.

This provision had been overlooked by our great judicial minds of the SC in their verdict pronounced  with pomp and glory” on the 13 December,2018 coming  close to Maha Danamutta’s solution.

The Judges are not there merely to interpret the Constitution, but also examine the reasons behind  legal issue in question  such as why the President used one Article of the Constitution,  without referring to the other which restricts his actions.  There is some thing called cause  and effect which the Judges should examine. The Judges are not mere technical robots, but human beings with a mind to be used when necessary to understand the whole of a political problem which is in  question and  now under their judicial examination.

In applying their commonsense, apart from legal arguments,  they should have examined the cause that led the President to resort to article 33 to dissolve the parliament by Gazette Notification despite the prohibition at article 70, which he would have certainly read and understood,  if not him personally  at least by those who advised him on the issue.

That was the cause , now  the reason was, after working with Ranil Wickramasinghe as Prime Minister   on whom he had placed all his confidence , he realised that the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe is not the man he had accepted him to be. When the UPFA Ministers left the Yahapalanaya Government  the Cabinet was automatically dissolved under the relevant Article 42 of  Constitution. Then the President had to appoint another Prime Minister and he did so under Article 46.

That was the back ground which the five Judges of the SC had not examined. That is a serious lapse on their part.

There is another case being examined by the Supreme Courts with regard to the appointment of the new   Prime Minister and a cabinet of Ministers . There too the Judges should not  rest after interpreting the relevant Articles of the Constitution, because the law is not for the President and the Parliamentarians, but  the law is primarily for the people.

Therefore the Judges should also examine the cause that led to the appointment of a new Prime Minister and his Cabinet. And also observe what had been  the need of the hour.

Was it to leave the people stranded without a government functioning and their daily needs unfulfilled and country being pushed into anarchic with a disposed Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe  not seeing reason acting  undemocratically and without moral decency ?

And in the meantime, the JVP, making use of the situation to fulfil their own ambitious scheme of passing an Article 20A to the Constitution, and TNA asking for more conditions suitable to making the North and East an Eelam State.

Let the people be proud of an independent judiciary not independent from the people , but independent in taking judicial decisions for the benefit of the people  as true patriots besides being judges and lawyers.

13 Responses to “Do our Judges follow  the  great wisdom of Kakille Rajjuruvo or Maha Danamutta to solve political  problem ?”

  1. Vaisrawana Says:

    Thank you for your excellent ending! Sarcasm has its uses.

  2. Lionel Says:

    Some people think they know everything, smarter than others and always right. They are the worst bunch in the society and never ready to accept the reality. Please stop insulting the judiciary in Sri Lanka. As a reputed web forum, LankaWeb should stop publishing the articles insulting the judges.
    Everyone who voted for the 19th amendment should have known the parliament cannot be dissolved for four and half years under that amendment. We should respect the unanimous decision given by the seven judges.

  3. Randeniyage Says:

    WHo is worse than the Kekille king ?
    Thank you Lionel. I think Lankaweb should upgrade to former glory than become Lankawakaweb.
    More than anyone else Editor/ Moderator should read the full judgement.
    Our beloved motherland cannot survive supporting injustice so obvious to the whole world. Even to the enemy, we have to show we are doing the right thing !
    After Ranil comes to power again, defeat his budget and win a poll the proper way ! No one can complain then.

    “Everyone who voted for the 19th amendment should have known the parliament cannot be dissolved for four and half years under that amendment.” So true ! Thank you for speaking for me.

  4. NeelaMahaYoda Says:

    Randeniya

    Please don’t write funny and hilarious comments as if you are writing so seriously.
    You say “After Ranil comes to power again, defeat his budget and win a poll the proper way ! No one can complain then”

    Don’t you know that defeating his budget will not bring about dissolution of parliament. If you read the 19 amendment and the judgement delivered yesterday only way you could dissolve parliament only by 2/3 majority in the parliament.

    If budget is defeated they have to resubmit it until it is accepted by the parliament.

    In away, what Sirisena and mahinda did was to challenge the acceptability of 19th amendment as it was not properly drafted and introduced at the committee stage. Unfortunately 7 SC judges accepted it as the legitimate amendment to the constitution.

    But in the long run Sirisena and Mahinda have achieved
    1. Made it impossible for Ranil government to introduce amendment 20A
    2.No chance of a new constitution now until 2020 Ranil will never have 2/3 majority
    3.They will never re-introduce high taxes and increase the fuel price as Ravi will be the new financial Minister who was always against increased taxation.
    4. Exposed Sajith premadasa’s poor leadership as he will never be able to raise his position
    5. Ranil will never be able to satisfy TNA’s demand due to lack of 2/3 majority

  5. Charles Says:

    Lionel, A person will not write this sort of article if he does not know what he is writing about. It does not insult the judiciary, but criticises the Judiciary for not making their judgement people friendly, and not taking into consideration the whole of the back ground that led the President to take the decision to dissolve the Parliament. To issue an interim order to stop the Prime Minister and the Ministers not function until the Courts take a final decision is the most absurd judicial decision any person who shows any interest in legal affairs may have heard. That decision had been taken without any respect to the people who had suffered for three and a half years under a most undemocratic Government by an uncaring Western puppet of a Prime Minister.

    Lankaweb merely gives a writer to have his articles published but does not take the responsibility for its content. Therefore Lankaweb remains reputed and responsible. Lankaweb also respects a persons right to have himself heard, therefore it is a democratic forum, which democratic right you do not seem to respect.

    19th Amendment should not have been voted as it is a badly drafted confusing document. It is a document which is an expression of hatred and vengeance under the pretext of making it look a legally acceptable amendment to the Constitution. It is a repugnant amendment as it is which has degraded the 1978 Constitution despite what ever short comings it has.

    Please read the article again as it contains constructive arguments such as the necessity to seek out the cause for the action that is being legally contested, instead of taking the “action” by itself for a judicial decision. In Sri Lanka we believe that every action has a cause- a cause and effect or Paticca Samuppada.

  6. Randeniyage Says:

    @NMY,
    I am mostly serious but some times like to add some humor/sarcasm – my character – sorry for that.
    Yes , sure I know that NMY I have read the constitution. “I said defeat the budget and win a poll proper way” , means a lot, not to be taken literally.

    What i meant to say in details
    1. Defeat the budget ( which shows more than 1/2. This can be done as JVP will vote against because they have done that few times)
    2. After step 1, even if it is not success, it will create uncertainty in the minds of a lot of people who do not like Ranil.
    3. Bring in another no-confidence motion to remove Ranil, JVP already said they will support it.
    4. Also the above will create some defections and that will enable irresolution.

    Promising ministerial posts should come to a stop. Such action will never work for a good government we need desperately.

    Sirisena amd Mahinda have loss ground , in my view- you may not agree but it is very visible. About you 5 points.
    1. Even before this it was so. 20A was defeated in the courts- need a referendum.
    2. Agreed, but wasn’t it the same before ?
    3. I am not convinced Ravi would do better ( he is a thief) for the country.
    4. No. He showed his honesty , loyalty to UNP , became stronger in my view – also he moved ahead of his competitors.
    5. Ranil had given up that long time back. As I said , possible loss of Mahind’s votes will create a situation giving him another chance to win, I am afraid.

    As any other citizen of the country, I do not agree Sirisena + Mahinda patch up marriage. Sirisena even recently said supporting more DEVOLUTION, i.e. strengthening 13A.
    You may think devolution is OK as long as it is done by Mahinda. I respect your view.

  7. Dilrook Says:

    Everyone must be given the right to express themselves. Restricting anyone for their opinion is against democracy, basic human values, Buddhist principles and more importantly Sinhala values. People should be able to criticize the judgement without personally attacking judges (or worse).

    The judgement was obvious as the unanimous decision shows.

    If anyone thinks they know about the law more than 7 Supreme Court judges even without legal qualifications they must be kind enough for themselves and get treatment for Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Thankfully no such person is here.

    We should commend Dr Sarath Weerasekera for his foresight and braveness. He was the only MP with the ability to think when 19A was introduced.

  8. dhane Says:

    13th Dec: judgement is neither people or constitutional friendly. It simply put the whole country to continues its problems for another year.

  9. aloy Says:

    “If you cannot beat them, join them”.

    This was the advice given to me by my boss, a Pakistani engineer, when I was working in an African country. Perhaps this is what the person who got the confidence of 6.3 m voters of ordinary Sri Lankans on 8th Jan 2015 and became prez did.

    Or, was it due to the ungratefulness of MR by becoming the leader of SLPP and abandoned SLFP immediately after becoming the new PM?. So he double crossed.

    What ever it is I can see a fight between MY3 and Gota coming up in the presidential election next year and we shouldn’t take these dramas too seriously.

  10. Charles Says:

    How can we respect and trust these Judges; They are far away from the people. They even imprisoned Ven: Gnanasara thero, a thing these so called Judsges of a Buddhist Country should have never done.

    They are corrupt judges I am sure they mut have been bought by with Dollars from Western Embassies.

  11. NeelaMahaYoda Says:

    Randeniyage

    Do you really think that 20A will be abandoned by UNP/JVP/TNA just because SC demanded 2/3 majority and the referendum. Amendment 19 had the same demands and some how they managed to pas it only through 2/3 majority.

    Watch and see next UNP leader will be Ravi and that will be the disaster for UNP because a non buddhist will not get enough votes to become the prime minister.

  12. Randeniyage Says:

    NMY,
    Yes, because they cannot do it ( unless Mahinda & Co betray the nation !). How can they get 2/3 majority ?
    Remember all Mahinda’s group voted for 19A ( except one). If that happens yet again are we to blame Ranil & Co only ?
    Same thing said about JR, but JR passed the leadership to Premadasa.
    Anyway why we worry about UNP ?
    Lets get our side cleaned of mud first. Haven’t you heard some SLFPeers joining UNP now ?

    This is the basic problem. GREED, GREED, GREED. Endless GREED to rob the nation. Thieves cannot be patriots.

  13. Dilrook Says:

    There are a few lessons from the recent episode. One is the unity of the UNP. We can attribute various reasons for it but the reality is the UNP is as thick as thieves. Well, they are! The bond fraud has unified the UNP. This is not the case with the anti-UNP camp. It is divided.

    If a Rajapaksa contests the next presidential election, he is assured not to win more than 10% of minority votes. In 2015, Mahinda won 15% of minority votes despite wasting billions on minorities during the election time as well. The Rajapaksa candidate will be relying on Sinhala voters alone. However, Sinhala voters are divided for good reasons – no candidate champions Sinhala interests. No one promises to abrogate 13A and make Sri Lanka unitary again, no one sees the threat of Wahabism, all candidates promise further federal (devolution), etc.

    A Sinhala candidate must contest the election independently and promise to abrogate 13A, ETCA, Singapore FTA, take back Hambantota, various economic benefits, severe punishment for traitors, Buddhist governance, etc. This will force the anti-UNP camp not to take Buddhists for doormats. 50,000 rupees is not a huge sum of money today. Anyone can dish it out and put his name as a candidate. Preferably the candidate should be from the forces.

    This was done in 2005. JHU threatened to field General Janaka Perera unless Mahinda agreed to its terms which he agreed at the Sri Dalada Maligawa. Had he disagreed, he would have lost the election.

    Rajapaksas know this. That is why they fear a presidential election but demand a parliamentary election. It will be very difficult for Gotabaya to defeat Sajith at a presidential election unless Gotabaya promises nationalist policies. He doesn’t deserve to win without nationalist policies clearly stated. Tamils and Muslims can vote for any dirt but Sinhala people must be choosy and demanding. Protection of this nation depends on the demanding power of the Sinhalese. If they don’t demand, they are doormats. Hakeem, Bathurdeen, Sampanthan, Thonda, etc. will walk over them, again.

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