News
JSA calls for High Court Commissioner’s appointment to be annulled
View(s):The Judicial Services Association (JSA) called on President Maithripala Sirisena to cancel the appointment of Irangani Perera as a High Court Commissioner for the Colombo High Court judicial zone to hear cases filed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
Indicative of a policy decision made by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) in 2011, there have been no High Court Commissioners appointed for judicial zones other than the North and East in the recent past.
“Requests made by many retired high court judges to get themselves appointed as High Court Commissioners have been rejected by the JSC,”
“According to section 4 of the Judicature Act no 2 of 1978 as amended by Act no 10 of 2100, a total number of 75 judges can be appointed as High Court judges.
At present there are only seventy judges who have been appointed as High Court judges. There are five more vacancies for new High Court appointments,” a statement from the JSA said.
Passing a special resolution against the move, the JSA collectively decided the appointment was unjust and highly detrimental to the entire judiciary, particularly to the minor judicial officers who would be deprived of being appointed as high court judges.
Making a statement that the Bar Association of Sri Lanka too condemned the appointment, the association said the Justice Minister had not been impartial in appointing that particular retired High Court Judge from among many other judges and the appointment was made without any transparency.
“Appointment of High Court Commissioners on a political basis sets a bad precedent as it encourages High Court Judges who are about to retire to develop relationships with politicians with the view of obtaining a High Court Commissioner appointment after their retirement.
This affects the independent decision making of the High Court Judges too,” the statement said.