The Walk Out Of Chief Justice And The Rajapaksas
Col. (retd) R.Hariharan
The walk out of Chief Justice Mrs Shirani Bandaranayake and her team of lawyers from a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) hearing on an impeachment motion against her Thursday was an eloquent testimony to the charade being enacted in Sri Lanka in the name of democracy. Probably it is a matter of time the PSC would find her guilty of the charges of corruption slapped against her.
Mrs Bandaranayake, who was picked by the President for the high office though she lacked adequate judicial experience, fell out of favour with her ruling on the Dive Neguma Bill. She ruled that the Bill required the approval of all provincial councils before enactment as it impinged upon their constitutional powers. Apparently she had taken her job too seriously and stopped the Bill from being passed forgetting it was moved by President’s brother Basil Rajapaksa, Minister for economic development.
The Divineguma Bill aims to create a department merging three authorities – Samurdhi, Southern Development and Udarata (up-country) Development involved in savings and loan schemes. Though the Bill appears innocuous, its enactment would deprive the limited financial powers of provincial councils have rural development. The Bill is important for the Rajapaksa clan because it forms part of President Rajapaksa’s grand plan to consolidate his hold on power. And as a masterly stroke, it would strike one more nail in the coffin of the much maligned 13th Amendment (13A) to the Constitution which created the provincial councils.
The Rajapaksas are set on getting rid of the 13A. The first call for abolishing 13A came up from the President’s brother and defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa in September 2012. It was vigorously backed by some coalition partners – the Right wing Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and the former JVP-leader Weera Wansa’s National Freedom Front (NFF) and the Mahajana Eksath Party (MEP). Both JHU and NFF feared if it is not abolished the “anti national” and pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was likely to gain control the Northern provincial council in September 2013. Basil Rajapaksa vexed by the opposition criticism of the Dive Neguma Bill spoke of the need to replace 13A and suggested introducing 19thamendment. The ruling coalition immediately reacted to say there was no move to abolish the 13A when probably the Chief Justice’s ruling was not factored in the scheme of things. Read More
