Judging by the happenings within the past couple of days, in all likelihood the judiciary will soon be brought under the direct control of the Executive President, just like the other numerous institutions in the country, including the Attorney General’s Department. It is now clear that the government is going to defy the interpretation of law given by the Supreme Court last week and will proceed to impeach the Chief Justice based on the report of the PSC. Thereafter, they will remove the Chief Justice and appoint a new Chief Justice who is more amenable to the government.
With the appointment of the new Chief Justice (“God knows” who!) the two-centuries old tradition of the independence of the judiciary in this country will come to an end and in all probability the courts will be brought directly under the control of the executive president and any judge who acts independently will face the same consequences as the incumbent Chief Justice.
It was just the other day that a government minister responsible (?) for Public Relations castigated the judges and judicial system openly at a media briefing with foul remarks of the “unprintable” category and then another minister, Weerawansa, has today called for the lawyers to be brought before the privilege committee to be severely dealt with. It is rather funny that both these pronouncements have come from the least educated members of the government and one cannot comprehend as to how or why the President is tolerating this type of nonsense from irresponsible ministers.
There are countries in the Asian continent, such as Myanmar, Cambodia etc, where courts are mere administrative bodies whose obligations are to facilitate the government’s schemes regardless of whether those are in line with the rule of law and the rights of the individuals. It is only a matter of time before Sri Lanka too falls into that dubious category.
Whether that is the Miracle of Asia we have been promised, only “God knows”!
With the appointment of the new Chief Justice (“God knows” who!) the two-centuries old tradition of the independence of the judiciary in this country will come to an end and in all probability the courts will be brought directly under the control of the executive president and any judge who acts independently will face the same consequences as the incumbent Chief Justice.
It was just the other day that a government minister responsible (?) for Public Relations castigated the judges and judicial system openly at a media briefing with foul remarks of the “unprintable” category and then another minister, Weerawansa, has today called for the lawyers to be brought before the privilege committee to be severely dealt with. It is rather funny that both these pronouncements have come from the least educated members of the government and one cannot comprehend as to how or why the President is tolerating this type of nonsense from irresponsible ministers.
There are countries in the Asian continent, such as Myanmar, Cambodia etc, where courts are mere administrative bodies whose obligations are to facilitate the government’s schemes regardless of whether those are in line with the rule of law and the rights of the individuals. It is only a matter of time before Sri Lanka too falls into that dubious category.
Whether that is the Miracle of Asia we have been promised, only “God knows”!
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