COLOMBO, January 7, 2013
Sri Lankan
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has rebuffed suggestions for a compromise to ward
off a legislature-judiciary stand-off later this week.
The
Parliament had decided to debate a report to impeach Chief Justice Shirani
Bandaranayake on January 10 and 11, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Chandima
Weerakkody said.
“[Mr.] Rajapaksa
told inter-religious leaders yesterday [Sunday] that the international
community had no basis to criticise constitutional procedures adopted in this
exercise,” The Daily Mirror newspaper reported. “The President
said the procedure laid down in the Constitution had been followed in
conducting inquiries into charges against the Chief Justice, and therefore the
international community could not find fault with it,” it added.
Government
Ministers on Monday asserted that all rules had been followed in bringing the
impeachment motion brought against Ms. Bandaranayake, the first woman Chief
Justice of Sri Lanka.
The
opposition walked out of an all-party meeting protesting the government’s
refusal to accept the January 3 Supreme Court determination — that the PSC had
no legal authority to inquire into allegations against a judge. A vote on the
impeachment motion will be held on January 11 after the debate.
The
government has more than a two-thirds majority in the 225-member legislature.
COURT QUASHES REPORT
Though the
government has refused to abide by its rulings on the impeachment issue, the
Court of Appeal on Monday quashed the report of the Parliamentary Select
Committee (PSC), appointed to probe charges in the impeachment motion.
Ms.
Bandaranayake, appointed judge with no experience in the Bench or the Bar, was
found guilty on three counts by the PSC on December 8. The charges against her
included financial irregularities, conflict of interest, and failure to declare
her assets.
The Sri
Lankan Judicial Services Association and the Bar Association of Sri Lanka have
opposed her removal. Lawyers supporting her believe that her ruling last year
against a bill proposing the allocation of development funds worth 80 billion
Lankan rupees (34 million Indian rupees) to one Ministry is the root cause of
the impeachment motion.
Her ruling
called for the Divineguma Bill to be approved by all nine provincial councils.
Senior
government functionaries dispute this theory, contending that corruption
charges against her, unearthed by Members of Parliament, resulted in the
impeachment motion.
AHRC PETITION
The Hong
Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a regional non-governmental
organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, has begun an online petition
urging the United Nations and the United States to intervene. Already, the
U.S., the U.N. and the Commonwealth have raised concerns about the impeachment
process. India and China have not commented on the issue. India maintains that
the impeachment is an internal matter of Sri Lanka.
“Since the
Chief Justice is challenging the legality of her removal from office and the
entire process held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, the
ALRC fears that the Chief Justice will be removed from office by force and a
new Chief Justice who is willing to oppose the judgment of the Supreme Court
appointed,” said the Asian Legal Resource Centre in a statement. “The resulting
chaotic situation will be disastrous to the rule of law and democracy in Sri
Lanka,” it added.
