Sri Lanka: Supreme Court Can Now Decide on Correct Procedure

Thursday, 22 November 2012, 2:01 pm
Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-236-2012
November 21, 2012

A Statement from the Asian Human Rights Commission

Sri Lanka: The Supreme Court Can Now Decide On The Correct Impeachment Procedure

It is the Supreme Court that should have created the disciplinary process for judges. The executive or legislature should not have usurped the function of the judicial branch, which is an independent branch. The Standing Orders relating to impeachment of judges should only have been adopted on the advice and the approval of the Supreme Court.

Now that several petitions against the impeachment are before the Supreme Court, the court has the opportunity to correct the wrong procedure that has been followed earlier by the Parliamentary Select Committee, in drafting and adopting the Standing Orders as it stand now.

Had the court been earlier consulted, it would have given advice on the basis of law as to how to draft the Standing Orders in a way that will not violate the status and the dignity of judges of Sri Lanka. The court can now take notice of the injustice that has been caused to the judiciary in adopting the Standing Orders as they are now and use this occasion to undo the historic injustice.

The unjust Standing Orders have been used on three occasions, causing grave problems for three Chief Justices. It could have caused anxiety to all others. Any day, these procedures could be used by anyone. Now the Supreme Court has a historic opportunity to take a matter that strictly belongs to it to its own hand, and make it safe for all judges in the future.

The lawyers of Sri Lanka has expressed their condemnation of the abuse of impeachment process and demanded that the law relating impeachment be in conformity with the best practices recognized throughout the world. The eight resolutions passed by the bar association is a clear indication of what the lawyers of Sri Lanka wants on this particular issue.

Bar and Bench should now make this occasion to let the nation know that they will defend legality against illegality at all cost.

Read this statement online

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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

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