Goodbye To The First Ever Lady Chief Justice Of Sri Lanka
By Upul Jayasuriya -January 29, 2015 |
Upul Jayasuriya -BASL President
My Lady the Chief Justice and other judges of the Supreme Court. President Court of Appeal and other Judges of the Court of Appeal. Learned High Court Judges and other Judicial officers. It is with overwhelming pleasure I rise today on behalf of the un-official Bar to convey our deepest gratitude to your ladyship for a battle that you fought at great sacrifice that put two years of your life in to hibernation with much anguish and pain.
It is with pleasure and pride in the Profession that, I warmly welcome Your Ladyship’s return to your rightful place as the Chief Justice.
It is common knowledge that, the unwavering stand of the Bar was that, the purported removal of Your Ladyship was unconstitutional, unlawful, null and void and of no force or effect in Law and that, any purported appointment done placing reliance on Your Ladyship’s purported removal, was also necessarily, unconstitutional, unlawful, null and void and of no force or effect in Law.
The Bar has always urged the Government to take the necessary corrective action and we are relieved and happy that, at long last, justice has prevailed and the illegality has been rectified, with Your Ladyship resuming your rightful and lawful position as Chief Justice.
The Bar always fought for this day and the Bar has been vindicated.
Your Ladyship has endured this extremely difficult period with immense courage and unfailing dignity and all Your Ladyships’ actions and words during this period, despite immense pressure being brought to bear on Your Ladyship, have kept in mind the paramount need to protect the dignity of the Judiciary.
We respectfully commend Your Ladyship for your fortitude and your wisdom.
It should also be noted that, during this interim period, the Bar has, in the interests of litigants and the continued functioning of the system of Administration of Justice, rendered the necessary cooperation to this Court and we look forward to continued cooperation and good relations between the Bench and the Bar, without which neither the Bench or the Bar can function.Read More
