By Colombo Telegraph –
“In 1867 Walter Bagehot commented that, the worst judge is a deaf judge. I believe it is apt to amend his sentiment in relation to this crucial judicial and socio-economic juncture of our country. The worst judge is not merely one who is deaf, but one who also succumbs to pressure. It is as much the responsibility of the judge to stand above it, without any fear or favour as it is the responsibility of the Legislature, the Executive and the society at large to ensure that they are capable of discharging their constitutional duties without undue adverse intimidation.” says Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, the Chief Justice of the Republic of Sri Lanka.
She made the above remarks at the Annual General Meeting of the Judicial Services Association held today, December 22, 2012.
Read the full text of the speech here
Ruwan / December 22, 2012
Madam, U have taken very old one. Its not relevant to present judicial system. Most of top judges in the pocket of politicians!
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Chanakya / December 22, 2012
How come the lady passed the 18th Amendment to the Constitution?
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Maya / December 22, 2012
Yes, that’s my question also. The 18th amendment is truly a tragedy of Sri Lanka. How did she let this happen? I am not sure that the Supreme Court judges including the present CJ did have adequate time to read and ponder the draft amendment. The Supreme court sanctioned it within a week. Why was such a hurry? It was obvious that all of them wanted to please the political head in power. They all succumbed to political pressure. Had she disagreed at that time,had she displayed wisdom and courage at that time, things would have been different by now. She is merely using the notion of independence of judiciary to rally the lawyers and public around her to take vengeance on the President for tarnishing her name. It is a simple tit for tat strategy.
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Daya / December 22, 2012
Had she opposed the 18th amendment, she would not have been appointed as the CJ by Mahinda. Instead a puppet CJ would have been appointed as CJ. Shirani would have remained merely as a supreme court judge under the puppet CJ. Devi Neguma bill would have been passed by now.
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Ane Manda / December 22, 2012
The question is, either you have never been to court or you choose to be ignorant. Benches are not constituted with 1 judge my friend. It’s by a panel. Furthermore, I’m assuming you haven’t gone through the actual judgement/reasoning and just heard someone say what the verdict was. Our country runs in tandem with the constitution, which is supreme (unlike what some parliamentarians think). The judgement set out reasons as to why the said amendment did not infringe the constitution. Google may be a good place to start your primitive research :)
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Safa / December 22, 2012
If you go through the order you will see that it is quite complicated and it was judged by a board of 5 judges without a dissenting verdict. Before commenting it warrants a full study to determine the thinking and reasons for the verdict. SC only gives a verdict based on the constitution. If constitution is flawed I suppose there is not much they could do.
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Patta Pal / December 22, 2012
I presume SB applied this at the time the decision to permit the passing of the 18th Amendment. Otherwise her words are hollow coming from her.
If she followed it and was NOT pressured, but came to the just conclusion that it was permissible, then I think she should also add the caveat to the statement that they should also be learned. Permitting the 18A was an act of sheer lunacy as we now have come to realize.
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Senguttuvan / December 22, 2012
Nearly 10,000 GKCCC depositors will join reader Chanakya and ask if justice and relief was denied to them in the pursuit of principles of
jurisprudence or if those dispensing justice in their case were
optionally deaf and blinded by temptation of super-luxury homes. Once again this 10,000 plus their children and grand-children consigned to the streets are denied the festivities of the joys of Xmas and the New Year. Rhetoric to them was high so far but relief and performance nil. That is justice in a country where we outdo each other in claiming we live our lives to the strict call of the four great religions in the world.
Senguttuvan
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Oh Danny boy / December 23, 2012
ALL THESE SO CALLED WRONGLY DECIDED CASES COULD BE REOPENED, APPEALED, AMENDED AND THE CORRECT DECISIONS DELIVERED AT ANY TIME THE COURT AND THE JUDICIARY THINK FIT.
THIS IS WHY THE JUDICIARY ARE THERE FOR.
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Kumudini / December 26, 2012
The Judiciary in SL is corrupt to the core .How can people writing here ignore that . They mint money when it comes to deliver a verdict if necessary. How can people writng to these columns be deaf and dumb to some of the verdicts given . Not only by SB but by ST, and some of the others in the legal fraternity as well. the lawyers are far from squeaky clean . Better to appoint another committee to investigate the judiciary.
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