Mohan goes to meet Mahinda!
- Sunday, 11 January 2015
Mohan Peiris, who holds onto the chief justice position after being appointed unlawfully, went to Medamulana yesterday (10) to meet former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, reports say. He was accompanied in the visit by president’s counsel Kalinga Indatissa.
According to our sources, their meeting focussed on the importance of Rajapaksa’s return to parliament as the opposition leader. Rajapaksa hopes to do so after getting a national list MP, most probably Malini Fonseka, to resign.
Meanwhile, prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has described to his friends to what extent Peiris has acted in a biased manner as the CJ. At the president’s invitation, Mr. Wickremesinghe went to Temple Trees yesterday and saw Peiris there. The premier asked him, “…Oh, CJ. What are you doing here?” An embarrassed Peiris said, “No. I came to give a legal opinion,” and left Temple Trees in a hurry.
Hambantota district MP Mahinda Amaraweera says around 40 MPs of the previous Rajapaksa regime are hoping to back the new president. With that support, a parliamentary majority of 113 MPs is to extend their backing to the new government.
Questioning For A Healthy Judiciary
By Viran Corea -January 11, 2015
Viran Corea
In the run up to the presidential election 2015, arguments were made by supporters of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa that effective government required subservience of fundamental rights of ordinary citizens adversely affected by executive programmes of action. The argument is neither new nor unique to Sri Lanka. At the same time, many supporters of rival (common opposition) candidate Maithripala Sirisena were heard to contend that such an approach did not bear scrutiny, as it undermines the rule of law and imperils the very essence of democracy. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka, which represents the legal profession of Sri Lanka was not alone in denouncing widely perceived unprecedented erosion of judicial independence, as more and more judges of the superior courts came to be viewed by lawyers and citizens as mere conduits of the dictates of the executive.