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Thursday, 15 August 2019 00:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By a Special Correspondent
A complaint has been lodged with the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal against Attorney General Dappula De Livera, for being in Contempt of Court over a media release issued by his office appearing to criticise Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne.
In a letter dated 29 July 2019, the complainant, P.D.V.K. Senapala of Nawala, alleges that the Attorney General has openly and publicly criticised the Order of the Chief Colombo Magistrate, and cast “personal aspersions on the Chief Magistrate” by referring to her Order in a media release as being “biased and partisan”.
On 9 July, the Chief Magistrate issued a lengthy Order on her decision to grant bail to former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and suspended IGP Pujith Jayasundara in the case alleging that the two officials had failed to prevent the April 21 bombings that killed 258 people. 
Hours after the Chief Magistrate’s Order was read out in Court, the Attorney General announced he would be challenging the Order via a Revision Application in the High Court.
On 18 July, Coordinating Officer to the Attorney General State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne issued a media release several pages long, referring to the arguments the AG had made in his Revision Application against Chief Magistrate Jayaratne’s Bail Order.
The Complainant claims that the media release, that was subject to wide distribution and aired on several prominent television channels, was tantamount to Contempt of Court, and openly criticising and attempting to humiliate a serving member of the Judiciary.
Coordinating Officer to the Attorney General State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne has also been cited in the complaint.
According to the complaint, seen by the Daily FT, the Coordinating Officer to the Attorney General issued a media release that was widely distributed on 18 July, stating that the AG had filed a Revision Application challenging the “illegal, unjust, unreasonable and arbitrary Order” of the Chief Magistrate of Colombo, by which the first and second suspects were released on bail.
“The media release of the Hon. AG which referred to the Order of the Chief Magistrate as being ‘illegal, unjust, unreasonable and arbitrary’ has resulted in seriously insulting the Chief Magistrate and bringing the Chief Magistrate into ridicule, humiliation and contempt in the opinion/minds of the general public,” the complaint said.
The Complainant added in his letter to the Chief Justice and the President of the Court of Appeal that the media release had also stated that the Chief Magistrate had made ‘wrong statements’ as well as ‘baseless and partisan statements’. This had “created doubt in the minds of the general public about the independence, impartiality and integrity of the Chief Magistrate in particular and the Judiciary in general,” Senanayake’s complaint said.
According to the complaint against the Attorney General, when a person no less than the AG, who is the chief law officer of the land, “conducts himself in this manner” and “openly insults judicial officers”, it causes “irreparable damage” to the independence of the Judiciary.
“If the conduct of the AG goes unnoticed, this will create a bad precedent, and every lawyer and litigant will start criticising judgments of the Court openly, making wild allegations against judicial officers, and erode the reputation of the Judiciary,” the complaint charged.
There is no evidence so far that the Chief Justice or the President of the Court of Appeal have decided to entertain the complaint against Attorney General De Livera.
Senior legal practitioners told the Daily FT that with Contempt of Court complaints, the Chief Justice must instruct the Attorney General to frame charges against the person alleged to have committed the offence, so that it may be investigated. Several contempt complaints against UNP MP Ranjan Ramanayake, for instance, had been moved on expeditiously, senior lawyers noted.
