Contempt Of Justice: An Open Letter To Minister Of Justice Thalatha Atukorale
K. Balendra
The verdict given on the Fundamental Rights petition filed against the President has been hailed as Historic. Historic! Indeed, when compared with various other verdicts not given and given in the recent past and the time consumed to conclude the hearings.
Not only the Judgment is considered Historic, but, even the sacking of Prime Minister Ranil, installing Mahinda, (A lost case) as Prime Minister, two Prime Ministers functioning at the same time, ‘re-appointment’ of Ranil as the Prime Minister by the President, after shouting all over that he will never appoint Ranil as the Prime Minister, even if all the 225 MP’s demand it, the Speaker appointing a new opposition leader without removing the existing Leader, MP’s in parliament not allowing the speaker to take his chair, throwing chili powder in a so called ‘august assembly’ breaking the furniture in the Parliament, a former President of approximately 8 years of ‘standing,’ ‘creeping’ between the knees of the President who is supposed to have ‘betrayed’ and defeated him, demeaning himself to become the Prime Minister, failing in his attempt to fortify his position through the Supreme Court and finally making an all out effort to become the leader of the opposition, should not only be considered ‘Historic’ but should go down in our history books for the present/future generations to understand, as to how their fathers and forefathers conducted themselves and why they should not follow their footsteps.
While, no one will deny the fact the FR petition referred to is important for the welfare of the citizens of Sri Lanka, was this case really meant for the welfare of the ordinary citizens or to safeguard the pivotal positions held by the petitioners, as rulers. One cannot be satisfied that only the FR petitions filed against the government by ‘important’ individuals/organizations should be heard and disposed of in double quick time. Originally 3 judges and subsequently seven judges were involved in hearing this case, thus depriving the ordinary citizen’s cases being heard for some time, pending the availability of judges, who appear to be in short supply, unlike the ministers. The need to file FR petition arose simply because of the egoistic attitude of the President, coupled with Mahinda’s greed for power, (a kumanthiranayak) not for the welfare of the people, but to safeguard himself from possible repercussion of his activities, while in power previously. This was adequately amplified by the immediate transfer of the police officer deeply involved in investigating the crimes committed by the previous lawmakers, together with their kith and kin.
Notwithstanding the above sequence, who is to foot the bill for the (con) fusion caused between Srisena and Mahinda, which resulted in the FR petition?
It may be interesting to find out as to how many FR petitions are pending and how long and why?
Two of us are struggling to get the verdict of a FR petition, hearing of which commenced on or about June 2011 and concluded in June 2016. However the verdict has not been delivered even after 2-1/2 years. A detail letter, with the sequence of events under the caption authored by me was published in Colombo Telegraph on 28th June 2018. But, up to date no response has been forthcoming from those concerned. Even previously, a few letters in this regard were published in the Sunday Times, with no results.
On a perusal of the press cuttings available with me, I note that almost all the newly appointed Judges, speak eloquently at their inaugural ceremonies, about the law’s delay and other shortcomings experienced by the litigants, with a promise to remedy it. But, efforts, if any, made by them, to arrest the delays seem to be unsuccessful as they seem to be ‘evading arrest.’ This may be probably, due to the non co-operation attitude, of the Judiciary, Police, Minor Law Enforcing Authorities and Lawyers, under whose cloak matters lye, unseen/unheard.
In an article which appeared in the Daily Mirror of24th.October 2016, under the caption ‘Truth behind law’s Delay,’ a state counsel who did not wish to be named said, “Lawyers should take 90% of the blame for the delays that occur in our courts. They drag the cases on mainly for two reasons; one being financial factor with their day’s fees increasing with the case being postponed and the fact that most lawyers do not come prepared for the cases in which they appear.”
