{"id":205885,"date":"2019-10-28T18:30:45","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T13:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=205885"},"modified":"2019-11-02T02:10:39","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T20:40:39","slug":"sc-rules-in-favour-of-setting-guidelines-for-pc-appointments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sc-rules-in-favour-of-setting-guidelines-for-pc-appointments\/","title":{"rendered":"SC Rules In Favour Of Setting Guidelines For PC Appointments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><b>By J K Wijedasa &#8211;<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_205884\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/J-K-Wijedasa.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-205884\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-205884\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/J-K-Wijedasa-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/J-K-Wijedasa-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/J-K-Wijedasa-45x45.jpg 45w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/J-K-Wijedasa.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-205884\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">J K Wijedasa<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Supreme Court rules in favour of setting guidelines for President Counsel appointments.<\/p>\n<p><b>Articles 17 and 126 cited by the petitioner are quoted below:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201c<b>17<\/b>. Every person shall be en\u200b\u200btitled to apply to the Supreme Court, as provided by\u00a0<b>Article<\/b>\u00a0126, in respect of the infringement or imminent infringement, by executive or administrative action, of a fundamental right to which I such person is entitled under the provisions of this Chapter.<br \/>\n<b><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>126<\/b>. (1) The Supreme Court shall have sole and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any question relating to the infringement or imminent infringement by executive or administrative action of any fundamental right or language right declared and recognized by Chapter III or Chapter IV.\u201c<\/p>\n<p>Article 33 (e)<\/p>\n<p>To appoint as President\u2019s Counsel, attorneys-at-law who have reached eminence in the profession and have maintained high standards of conduct and professional rectitude. Every President\u2019s Counsel appointed under this paragraph shall be entitled to all such privileges as were hitherto enjoyed by Queen\u2019s Counsel;<\/p>\n<p>27.(6) The State shall ensure equality of opportunity to citizens, so that no citizen shall suffer any disability on the ground of race, religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion or\u00a0occupation.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Conflict of article 33 (e)<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>and article 27.(6) is evident.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I believe that 27.(6) nullifies 33 (e).<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Therefore, recognition afforded to Lawyers (numbering a little over 14000)\u00a0is discriminatory as other professionals are not considered for such recognition.<\/p>\n<p><b>Rest of the professionals numbering few hundred thousand are not recognized. These include academics, medical profession, scientists, architects, economists, bankers etc. (Mainly members of OPE)\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The practice of appointment of Queen\u2019s Counsel ceased with the adoption of 1972 constitution on 22<sup>nd<\/sup>\u00a0May 1972. The appellation changed to Senior Attorney-at-Law. 1978 constitution maintained the same position. Prior to the 1972 constitution it was a tradition\u00a0only, though unfair.<\/p>\n<p><b>Then 12 years later the 8<\/b><b><sup>th<\/sup><\/b><b>\u00a0Amendment was pushed through on 6<\/b><b><sup>th<\/sup><\/b><b>\u00a0March 1984 empowering the President to appoint President\u2019s Counsel. The amendment mentions the colonial appendage Queen\u2019s Counsel. Don\u2019t we know that we shed shackles of colonialism with 1972 constitution? Lawyers cannot even talk of an unbroken tradition.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Directive Principles of State Policy.<\/p>\n<p>27.(6) The State shall ensure equality of opportunity to citizens, so that no citizen shall suffer any disability on the ground of race, religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion or\u00a0occupation.<\/p>\n<p><b>Recognition afforded to Lawyers under the 8<\/b><b><sup>th<\/sup><\/b><b> amendment is discriminatory as other professionals are not considered for such recognition.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>A LANDMARK fundamental rights petition could be filed by any professional other than a lawyer to do away with the discriminatory practice under the provisions of Articles 17 and 126 of the Constitution.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":511,"featured_media":205889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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