Letter To Speaker On Expropriation Bill And The Chief Justice
Nihal Sri Ameresekere
To: Hon. Chamal Rajapaksa, M.P.
Speaker of Parliament
AFFIDAVIT
I, NIHAL SRI AMERESEKERE of 167/4, Vipulasena Mawatha, Colombo 10 in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, being a Buddhist, do hereby solemnly, sincerely and truly affirm and declare as follows:
I place before Your Honour the following facts in the context of the Parliamentary Select Committee having been appointed in terms of Standing Orders of Parliament under Article 107(3) of the Constitution, to investigate into a Resolution for the removal of Hon. (Dr) (Mrs.) Upatissa Atapattu Bandaranayake Wasala Mudiyanse Ralahamilage Shirani Anshumala Bandaranayake, entertained on 1st November 2012 by Your Honour, as per Article 107(2) of the Constitution, and placed on the Order Paper of Parliament on 6th November 2012.
The facts contained herein are also tendered to Your Honour in the context of the Application I made on 18thOctober 2012 to the Supreme Court in SC (SD) No. 2/2011 of which Your Honour was given notice in terms of the Constitution.
I set out below a chronology of events on my endeavours to have the Special Determination of 24th October 2011 reviewed and re-examined to bring out the salient facts of relevance.
14.11.2011- I filed Fundamental Rights Application SC (FR) No. 534/2011 upon coming to know that the Bill generally referred to, as the ‘Expropriation Bill’, had been tabled in Parliament on 8th November 2011, without being aware that the Bill had already been certified into law by Your Honour on 11th November 2011.
With my aforesaid Application, I also tendered a Motion, seeking to Support my Application in the course of the ensuing week, attaching a Medical Certificate from the Cardiac Specialist, who has been treating me since 1994, recommending two weeks rest, since I was indisposed, having just returned from Morocco, after attending the Fourth Session of the Conference of State Parties on the UN Convention Against Corruption.
15.11.2011 Upon seeing in the media that other Fundamental Rights Applications on the same Bill had been listed to be Supported on 15th November 2011, I sent a Letter to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, together with an Officer of my Office, confirming to him my indisposition, and intimating that I had requested my said Officer to be present in Court, to know the date on which my aforesaid Application would be listed for Support.
Notwithstanding the above Motion, Medical Certificate and my said Letter, the Registrar of the Supreme Courttelephoned and informed me, that Chief Justice, Shirani A. Bandaranayake, had directed that my Fundamental Rights Application, also be listed for Support on the very next day i.e. 15th November 2011, and he inquired from me, as to whether I could attend the Supreme Court and Support my said Application also on the said day ?
I intimated to him that I had been medically advised to bed rest, and that I had already sent a Medical Certificate, with my Motion, moving to Support my Application in the course of the next week. I requested the Registrar of the Supreme Court to submit my aforesaid Letter and the Medical Certificate to the presiding Judge of the following 5 Judge Bench of the Supreme Court, who were hearing the other Applications.
Justice N.G. Amaratunga,
Justice I. Imam,
Justice R.K.S. Sureshchandra,
Justice Sathya Hettige
Justice Dep, P.C.
All the other Fundamental Rights Applications had been dismissed in-limine on 15th November 2011 by the said 5 Judge Bench of the Supreme Court, presumably since the said Bill had been certified into law on 11thNovember 2011 by Your Honour.
The presiding Justice N.G. Amaratunga had announced in Open Court, that a Fundamental Rights Application had also been filed by me, tendering a Medical Certificate, and had directed the Clerk to the Court, to inform my Officer, that I had been permitted to file a Motion and seek a date to Support my aforesaid Fundamental Rights Application.
17.11.2011 - Accordingly, I filed a Motion seeking to support my Fundamental Rights Application SC (FR) No. 534/2011 on 25th November 2011.
On that day, I also filed a separate Application in SC (SD) No. 2/2011 seeking a review and re-examination of the Special Determination of 24th October 2011, in respect of which Chief Justice Shirani A. Bandaranayake had minuted thus –
‘Any party that had wanted to intervene should have done so at the time, it was taken before the Supreme Court’. Read More
