The Public’s Right Know,The Remarkable Transformation Of The Ex-CJ And The Sitting Judges
June 19, 2012
By Elmore Perera -
Elmore Perera
The Public’s Right to Information – The only effective Counter to Misinformation
The President has declared that any citizen requiring information has only to ask him. The Speaker has indicated that Democracy cannot survive in Sri Lanka unless questions raised in Parliament are answered fairly and adequately.
An Ex-Chief Justice who, as CJ propounded, the age-old doctrine of Public Trust (which, in essence, is that all public office is held in trust for the Public) has recently opined that “The Right to Information was blocked in Sri Lanka and it was an absolute necessity for the country as the rights of the people were being eroded in a massive way”.
Whatever credibility may be attached to the statements from the “Executive” and the “Legislative” branches of Government may be, the statement from the “Judiciary” merits serious consideration. Prima facie, it reflects the frustration of an ex-Chief Justice whose strenuous efforts to remove the blockages to the Right to Information in the Judicial System have proved futile.
The Institutions charged with the primary responsibility of actively clearing blocks to the Public’s Right to Information are the Supreme Court, the Judicial Service Commission and the Bar – both official and private.
A lawyer “friend” of this Ex-CJ sought his assistance as Attorney General, in respect of a massive fraud perpetrated on hundreds of bona fide depositors by an Investment Company controlled by Lawyers, that offered 42% interest on investments, purportedly secured by “Gilt-edged Security” and attracted hundreds of gullible, though bona fide depositors and defaulted after one year, having inter alia, forged the signatures of the unsuspecting depositors and making a mockery of the guarantee of “gilt-edged security”.
