RARELY, if ever, is the end as apparent as in the move of the Sri Lankan ruling party to impeach Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayeke: she will go down, and make history in the process.
This the third time in just over three decades that the Sri Lankan Parliament has begun the process to impeach a Chief Justice after the Executive and Legislature gave vent to their collective displeasure. In the earlier occasions, the process was abandoned half-way for different reasons.
This time, President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself decided to take on the judiciary for stepping out of line. The impeachment motion, signed by 117 MPs of the ruling alliance and tabled in Parliament on November 6, has 14 charges, including improper conduct, unexplained wealth and property and non-declaration of assets. The Speaker, Chamal Rajapaksa, the Presidents older brother, accepted the motion earlier. In a detailed explanation, Shirani Bandaranayake, the countrys first woman Chief Justice, rebutted the charges. An academic, she was 38 when she was appointed Supreme Court judge with no experience either in the Bench or the bar. She was hand-picked to be Chief Justice in May last year. She had been superseded to the post earlier, but she hung on. Her decisions favoured the government in many cases. If she is allowed to continue as Chief Justice, she will have a 11-year term, the longest anyone would have served as that post in this part of the world.
Relations between the President and the Chief Justice nosedived in the past few months. A judicial officer issued an unprecedented press statement complaining of interference, and the government held that she had overstepped her authority. The last straw was the Supreme Courts ruling on the Divi Neguma Bill.
The Bill takes away some powers from Sri Lankas nine provinces, and places on a single Ministry the power to spend about LKR 80 billion on development. This Ministry is controlled by Basil Rajapaksa, also a brother of the President. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) challenged the Bill in court, and the Chief Justice held that the Bill had to be approved by all nine provincial councils. This posed complications for the government since the Northern Province does not have an elected council.
The Northern Province Governor gave his consent for the Bill, which was challenged in court. The Supreme Court also ruled that certain provisions of the Bill require a two-thirds majority to be passed in Parliament. The government has accepted this ruling and intends to make appropriate amendments to ensure that the Bill is passed.
R.K. RadhakrishnanCOMMents
COMMents
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