Impeachment of CJ ; An Unconstitutional Witch-hunt -JC Weliamuna

Impeachment of Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice: An Unconstitutional Witch-hunt

Image courtesy AFP and via The Express Tribune--3 Nov, 2012 J C Weliamuna

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JC Weliamuna

The Rajapaksha Regime, through its parliamentarians, handed over an impeachment motion to the Speaker, the elder brother of the President Rajapaksha against the first woman Chief Justice of the country. It appears that the Government of Sri Lanka is in a mighty hurry to “get rid of the Chief Justice” so that a major obstacle for government’s capricious track is removed.  With the handing over of the impeachment, the government has signalled to the entire public service and judiciary   two rules – that the Regime is superior to the Law and that Rule of Law does not exist in the country. This short article is written to bring out several vital issues that the  public should not lose sight of, in relation to  the present impeachment attempt.

Background

The events leading to the impeachment demonstrates that the move to impeach the CJ  is nothing but a political witch-hunt. The tension between judiciary and executive started with Minister Bathirdeen’s unsuccessful attempt to influence the Magistrate of Mannar, resulting in an attack on the Magistrate’s court. Then there were attempts by the Executive  to influence the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) on disciplinary matters, where the JSC stood firm. The JSC, through the Secretary, in fact issued an unprecedented statement on 12^th September 2012 stating that there is interference with the functions of the JSC. Everyone knew by whom.  Soon thereafter, the JSC Secretary was brutally assaulted in a typical – state sponsored style attack.  Divineguma Bill, which takes away some of the powers of the Provincial Council and concentrated power of rural development in the hands of a Minister under an unusual legislative scheme, came up for review in the Supreme Court. Chief Justice presided over the relevant Bench. The Minister concerned was another Brother of the President.  The decision has ignited  so much of unfair criticism against the Court. Threats of impeachment emerged with this case! Discharging a constitutional function or a duty (in this case protecting the judiciary against unlawful interference and delivering a judgment) cannot be the basis for any impeachment.

Divineguma Petition not being handed over to Speaker                         Continue reading »