Ensure Equal Justice Or Shoot The Messenger
By Ananda Markalanda –April 10, 2016
Ananda Markalanda
Nagananda Kodituwakku is an inspiring example of how passionate individuals can make meaningful and sustainable improvements in the lives of vulnerable communities through our judiciary. Historically, and in many cases today, messengers of bad news are often punished instead of the creators of the bad news. Assuming it is true that we often ‘shoot the messenger’ when we receive bad news, the questions arises as to why this is the case.
Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a fair trial. All people who come to courts want and deserve a court system they can trust and that treats them fairly and with respect, an independent branch of government that advances justice through the rule of law, and a system that provides fair, efficient, effective and accessible justice for all.
Presently Sri Lanka is on the radar map of International community for corrupt judiciary as indicated by many organizations. Mr. Kodiutuwakku has taken a stand on this and fighting to rectify this on a pro bono basis to a court system that works collaboratively with its justice partners to serve the people with integrity and transparency. It is a privilege to have a Public Interest attorney like Kodituwakku, whose career, as lawyer is a stellar example of how to serve the public interest. The common goal, greater “knowledge about law and the administration of justice,” is particularly important today when the legal profession projects very different images. On our Constitution creates a certain form of government, a democracy with basic guarantees of human rights. It is an enabling document that does not dictate substantive policy choices but foresees those choices being made by “the People.” How can that document work if “the People” are indifferent to, ignorant of, or cynical about, the very governmental system it creates? The answer is: it cannot work without the public’s trust and its participation. Model Rules of Professional Conduct identifies the lawyer as a public citizen: “A lawyer, as a member of the legal profession, is a representative of clients, an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice.”‘ The lawyer Kodituwakku’s role as a public citizen is the heart of the lawyer’s obligation to the legal system and to clients who doesn’t have the funds. Likewise, this role is the heart of the lawyer’s pro bono obligation. Recognizing that lawyers have an ethical and professional duty to make access to justice a possibility for all in the struggle for social justice, public interest litigation has played an indisputably important role. Yet over the past three decades, critics from both the left and right have challenged its capacity to secure a judicial system with integrity. This is where Kodituwakku comes to the scene for a change or to restore on the integrity and the honesty on the Judges. This is a patriotic effort and rational criticism to seek redress from courts.