News
CJ 44 won’t go; Govt and BASL losing patience
Chief Justice 44 Mohan Peiris is refusing to relinquish office and now demanding a plum diplomatic posting in return for vacating his post despite a demand by the country’s lawyers that he step down.
His choice is either as Ambassador to the UN in New York or as High Commissioner in London, but Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has offered him Brazil, a National Unity Government source said yesterday.
“We are losing our patience. By deliberately delaying he is precipitating a serious situation that could hurt him the most”, the source added.
The development over the week came as Public Order Minister John Amaratunga told the Sunday Times he had ordered the pruning of the Chief Justice’s security detail from ten police officers to two.
“This is in accordance with his entitlement,” Minister Amaratunga said.
On Friday, Mr. Peiris was questioned by detectives of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over his presence at Temple Trees around 4 a.m. on January 9
when Presidential election results were being released by the Elections Commissioner. The National Unity Government maintains that there was an attempt at suspending the count and that the Chief Justice was providing legal advice to the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has called for the Chief Justice’s resignation on the grounds that he has failed to maintain his impartiality as required by the Constitution by his pre-dawn presence at ‘Temple Trees’.
Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaskshe told the Sunday Times the Chief Justice had agreed to resign to three separate audiences. He was present at all three, he said.
“He agreed three times, once in the presence of the President and myself, secondly when the Premier and I discussed the matter with him, and thirdly when all three of us were present. He was negotiating with us for a diplomatic posting, and we finally agreed on Rome,” Mr. Rajapakshe said.
According to him, Mr. Peiris was expected to submit his resignation letter as Chief Justice and collect the appointment letter for his new posting last Wednesday evening. Although Mr. Peiris had come while the cabinet meeting was being held, no resignation was tendered or the appointment letter collected, Mr. Rajapakshe said.
“He later called the Presidential Secretary for an appointment and was scheduled to meet the President on Thursday at 8.30 a.m. at the Presidential Secretariat. But he did not turn up. We were waiting till 9.45 a.m. No further communication has been received from the Chief Justice since then,” he said.
During the week, Cabinet spokesman and Minister Rajitha Senaratne announced that the Chief Justice had told the Prime Minister he would resign but did not mention anything about being offered a diplomatic posting. The next day, a person claiming to be a spokesman for the Chief Justice, a Ratnapura lawyer, Wijeratne Kodippili denied that Mr. Peiris had offered his resignation.
Commenting on that incident, Minister Rajapakshe said that the Chief Justice had never been allocated a spokesman, nor had the recruitment of such personnel been approved by anyone. According to the Minister, the Government knows nothing about the person who issued a statement on behalf of the Chief Justice.
“We don’t even know if he is a Sri Lankan or not,” he said.
The BASL’s Executive Committee met again last afternoon and decided to summon the association’s 500 strong council members for a special meeting next Saturday to discuss the deadlock. The BASL Ex Co, the governing body of the country’s lawyers, will also meet the Bar seniors today and request an appointment with the President and Prime Minister next week, BASL President Upul Jayasuriya said.
He said the Chief Justice was contacting junior lawyers and seeking their support to sign a petition in support of him.
“The questioning of the Chief Justice by the CID — in his chambers — is the worst insult the country’s judiciary has faced in its more than 200-year history. The CJ 44 has now resorted to canvassing, lobbying and applying pressure on junior lawyers. This is unheard of. We will discuss the possible courses of actions when the council meets,” Mr. Jayasuriya said.On Friday, when the Sunday Times contacted Mr. Kodippili and asked him what the Chief Justice had to say about his presence at ‘Temple Trees’ on the night the Presidential election results were being released, he said he was not authorised by the Chief Justice to speak on that matter.