{"id":114751,"date":"2021-06-01T23:59:14","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T05:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=114751"},"modified":"2021-06-01T05:08:51","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T12:08:51","slug":"dappula-de-livera-called-upon-to-explain-how-the-constitutional-port-city-bill-was-found-to-be-suddenly-unconstitutional-in-over-25-instances-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/06\/01\/dappula-de-livera-called-upon-to-explain-how-the-constitutional-port-city-bill-was-found-to-be-suddenly-unconstitutional-in-over-25-instances-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Dappula de Livera Called upon to Explain How the \u2018Constitutional\u2019 Port City Bill was Found to be Suddenly Unconstitutional in over 25 Instances – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

by The Sri Lanka Study Circle\u00a0 (Sheets 1- 5 of 14 sheets)<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Preamble<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an open letter\nissued by the members of the Sri Lanka Study Circle to the former Attorney\nGeneral de Livera, calling him to explain why punitive action should not be\ninitiated against him for alleged professional malfeasance connected with the\nPort City Bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is accused of having\nconducted himself in a manner that compromised the Country\u2019s sovereignty and\nthreatened her National Security; his alleged impropriety is more fully\ndescribed in the body of this letter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charges levelled against Mr.\nde Livera<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The charges levelled against\nyou, Mr. de Livera, are: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7       \nSerious dereliction of duties during the time you held the post\nof Attorney General.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7       \nBringing the post of AG and the AG\u2019s Department, into uttermost\ndisrepute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7       \nConducting yourself in a manner that was prejudicial to good\norder and departmental discipline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7       \nCompromising the Constitutional role and responsibility of the\nAttorney General.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7       \nCollaborating with elements attempting to subvert the Constitution\nof the Country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7       \nConducting yourself in a manner unbecoming of the Attorney\nGeneral of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We, the members of the Study\nCircle, are aware that you are no longer the AG; we therefore request you to\nsubmit an explanation expeditiously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We opine that you owe an\nexplanation to the people of this Republic, who had financially sustained you\nin the department all these years and whose benignity would contribute to your\npension and sustain you during your lifetime on Earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If an explanation is not\nprovided<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Failure to provide an\nexplanation, as requested in this letter, may result in the public being compelled\nto pursue a course of action against you which could result in the suspension\nof any foreign travel you may have planned, your passport being impounded, your\npension and assets being frozen and punitive legal action being initiated\nagainst you, even in absentia; if you are ensconced abroad, it may compel the\npeople to take measures to have you extradited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the absence of your explanation\nand in the unlikely event of successive Governments displaying a reluctance to\ninitiate action against you, the people shall patiently bide their time until\nthe opportunity is afforded when you could be brought before court to face\ncharges.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If perchance you have\ndeceased by the time the opportunity is afforded to initiate action against\nyou, the trial against you shall proceed, with your progeny being given ample\nopportunity to defend your name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There shall be no time\nprescription in initiating charges against you.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did you mislead the\nGovernment and the people?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. de Livera, you are\nkindly requested to explain, why you misled the Government and the people\nand brought your department to such disrepute by assuring all stakeholders that\nthe Port City Bill was not in violation of the Constitution when it was\nglaringly obvious, to even a layman, that the Bill was indeed in violation of\nthe Constitution?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your conduct, an enduring\nblotch on the office you were privileged to hold, smeared the reputation of the\nDepartment when the Supreme Court found the Bill to be in violation of the\nConstitution in a record 25 instances!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you were to plead that\nyour ignorance of the Constitution and the law occasioned this apocalyptic faux\npas in the history of the Department, it would indeed be a sad commentary on\nyour professional ability; if that is your explanation, it is strongly\nsuggested that you tender your resignation forthwith and walk away from the\nDepartment without your pension, hanging your head in everlasting shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Failed in your\nConstitutional responsibility<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article 77 of the\nConstitution makes you mandatorily the prime Legal Protector of the\nConstitution. You have failed miserably in your Constitutional responsibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a blunder of this\nproportion is made by a man of your experience in the twilight of his\ngovernment career, would it be unreasonable to entertain suspicions that you\ncould possibly have been influenced politically or otherwise, especially when a\nridiculous offer of a diplomatic assignment, at retirement, is made to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asset declarations and Bank\nstatements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To allay suspicions in the\nminds of the people (and also in the name of transparency) you are kindly\nrequested to forward to the public, copies of your annual asset declarations\nfor the last five years, which presumably you have already submitted, and to\nmake available all your bank statements for public scrutiny for the same period\nof time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\/Contd<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by The Sri Lanka Study Circle\u00a0 (Sheets 1- 5 of 14 sheets) Preamble This is an open letter issued by the members of the Sri Lanka Study Circle to the former Attorney General de Livera, calling him to explain why punitive action should not be initiated against him for alleged professional malfeasance connected with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sri-lanka-study-circle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}