{"id":64914,"date":"2012-12-15T19:02:49","date_gmt":"2012-12-15T19:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=64914"},"modified":"2012-12-23T00:08:55","modified_gmt":"2012-12-23T00:08:55","slug":"basl-resolutions-and-implications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/","title":{"rendered":"BASL Resolutions And Implications"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka<\/a><\/span> (BASL) adopted three resolutions yesterday relating to the impeachment of the Chief Justice.\u00a0 In essence, the BASL requests that the President re-consider the impeachment, called for \u2018the enactment of procedural laws in relation to the removal of judges of the Superior Courts while ensuring a fair trial by adhering to principles of natural justice\u2019 before proceeding if the first request is turned down, and if the CJ is removed without such enactment and fair-trial guarantees to \u2018not welcome\u2019 the CJ\u2019s<\/a><\/span> successor.<\/p>\n

The second and third resolutions clearly assume that the first (request) would be turned down.\u00a0 The BASL implies in the second resolution that there is a constitutional flaw.\u00a0 Calling for law-change in mid-process could open a legal and constitutional (if not ethical) can of worms.\u00a0 Constitutions are not cast in stone, which is why there are provisions for amendment.\u00a0 What stands has stood, for better or worse, for close to three decades without a murmur of concern being raised by the BASL or anyone else.\u00a0 This raises the question, \u2018Was the BASL ignorant of relevant articles in the Constitution all this time?\u2019 There was politics then and there is politics now, this much is clear. \u00a0If the rules can\u2019t keep politics out, then they need to be changed.\u00a0 Not in the mid-process, not least of all for the bad precedent it sets.<\/p>\n

The allusion to \u2018natural justice\u2019 is interesting.\u00a0 Many BASL movers and shakers are also vociferous supporters of a query currently in the Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of the impeachment process, essentially asking the CJ to offer determination on a case whose outcome may be detrimental to her interests.\u00a0 That \u2018violation of natural justice\u2019 has not warranted BASL comment.\u00a0 Neither has the BASL thought fit to observe that if current strictures are inadequate, illegal or violate principles of natural justice it follows that a CJ is unimpeachable, a sorry state of affair which rebels against the fundamental principal of equality before the law.<\/p>\n

The third resolution is a threat, unadulterated.\u00a0 It appears that the BASL, the governing body of lawyers, has erred on at least 3 counts here.<\/p>\n

Firstly, Sec 41 (1) of the Judicature Act gives an Attorney-at-Law an unimpaired and unhindered right to appear before any court or tribunal set up for the administration of justice. Resolution 3 takes away this statutory right.\u00a0 Secondly, If the CJ is impeached it would have been done both constitutionally and legally (never mind the morality of intent) and therefore the BASL has to recognize it.\u00a0 Thirdly there is a Constitutional requirement for the President to appoint a new CJ and a new CJ would be appointed constitutionally and legally; therefore there is no ground for the BASL to not recognize a new CJ and to prevent lawyers from appearing before him\/her.<\/p>\n

The BASL has every right to engage in politics.\u00a0 Responsibility and dignity cannot be demanded but only observed in word and deed and indeed breach of the same.\u00a0 The BASL was political when its members, with or without the blessings of the body, turned the Supreme Court into a kattadiya\u2019s carnival, and unknowingly or unknowingly gravely compromised the dignity of the post of Chief Justice by taking the politicization of the impeachment to a higher level.\u00a0 How their high minded notions of \u2018natural justice\u2019 and \u2018impartiality\u2019 are served by appearing before a judge who they cheered and whose \u2018nod\u2019 they received, they have the intelligence to deduce.<\/p>\n

It is easy to take refuge in the notion that if everything is out of order, it\u2019s perfectly alright to be out of order ourselves.\u00a0 BASL moves, despite all this, appears to be symptomatic of constitutional flaw no less pronounced than other articulations of the same errors.\u00a0 It calls not for constitutional tweaking, but comprehensive constitution-review with a view to develop a fresh document, a 3rd Republican Constitution.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation<\/a>\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a>\u00a0.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":44732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nBASL Resolutions And Implications - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BASL Resolutions And Implications - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-15T19:02:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-23T00:08:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"413\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/\",\"name\":\"BASL Resolutions And Implications - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-15T19:02:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-23T00:08:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\",\"width\":\"336\",\"height\":\"413\",\"caption\":\"Malinda Seneviratne\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BASL Resolutions And Implications\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BASL Resolutions And Implications - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BASL Resolutions And Implications - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2012-12-15T19:02:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-12-23T00:08:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":336,"height":413,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/","name":"BASL Resolutions And Implications - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","datePublished":"2012-12-15T19:02:49+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-23T00:08:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","width":"336","height":"413","caption":"Malinda Seneviratne"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-resolutions-and-implications\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BASL Resolutions And Implications"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64914"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66099,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64914\/revisions\/66099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}