{"id":68482,"date":"2013-01-09T08:47:59","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T08:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=68482"},"modified":"2013-01-11T08:35:12","modified_gmt":"2013-01-11T08:35:12","slug":"scheduled-impeachment-debate-is-not-constitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/scheduled-impeachment-debate-is-not-constitutional\/","title":{"rendered":"Scheduled Impeachment Debate Is Not Constitutional"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laksiri Fernando<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr Laksiri Fernando<\/p><\/div>\n

With the quashing of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) \u2018Report, findings and decisions\u2019 by the Court of Appeal, the highest judicial authority in the country on this matter, the impeachment procedure so far conducted by the ruling Rajapaksa regime<\/a><\/span> has come to a dead end. If they try to bypass or jump over this ruling and conduct the impeachment debate based on the quashed PSC report it would be highly controversial, morally repugnant and contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution.<\/p>\n

It is not only a ruling by the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court previously determined that Standing Order78A is not law and contravenes Article 107 (3) and several other provisions in the constitution which governs and should govern any impeachment procedure against a judge in the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n

Missing Component <\/strong><\/p>\n

What is terribly missing in the impeachment procedure in Sri Lanka is an \u2018independent judicial component\u2019 where any charge against a judge could be investigated before debating an impeachment motion in Parliament. There is a judicial component in the impeachment procedure for the President, but not for the Chief Justice<\/a><\/span> or any other judge.<\/p>\n

Therefore, if the ruling Rajapaksa regime stubbornly goes ahead with their scheduled impeachment debate on 10-11 January, it would not be a proper procedure and not even a proper Parliament, but a mock one like their Kangaroo Court of the PSC. Both the moral and the legal legitimacy of such a debate would be at the lowest ebb. Any sensible President who wishes to respect the rule of law and the constitution of the country cannot consider a resolution based on such a debate a valid \u2018Address of Parliament\u2019 to remove the Chief Justice.<\/p>\n

It is not merely a question of the weak nature of the charges levelled against the Chief Justice on which the President has already expressed his opinion at the meeting of the Institute of Chartered Accountants some weeks ago, but the flawed procedure followed by the PSC now quashed by the Court of Appeal. There was a clear admission by the President that the \u2018charges were weak\u2019 and it is the nature of the Sri Lankan culture to \u2018hammer a person when the person is at the receiving end\u2019 and his \u2018conscience was pricked\u2019 for one or the other reason. Whether those utterances were genuine or not is completely a different matter. In view of the all above there are two options left for the government.<\/p>\n