Proposal to make Attorney General’s Dept. independent  

• MP Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne moots new laws to make AG Dept. independent of political influence and control
• Questions remain over if AG consulted before failed dissolution bid
• AGs role should be to express his independent views to the court and be an amicus of the court

By Ashwin Hemmathagama – Our Lobby Correspondent

A Government lawmaker yesterday proposed that the Attorney General’s Department to be made an independent institution and free of influence by the Executive.

UNP MP Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne

Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya

The proposals came from UNP MP Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne who said new laws should be made to make the AG’s Department an independent institution to reduce President’s intervention and involvement in selecting the Attorney General (AG) as well as the burden on the AG to represent the Executive. “It is a question whether the President obtained the advice of the Attorney General when the Parliament was dissolved. But we don’t see that he did. However, the Attorney General had to defend the President’s decision in court. In that instance, the Attorney General considered the President as his client and acted in the best interest of the client,” he said.

Dr. Wickramaratne said while the AG is the chief legal advisor to the Government, of late, the Government and President had taken certain actions without the knowledge or advice of the AG.

“According to the Constitution, the Attorney General should be named a party in every Fundamental Rights petition. If a case is to be filed against the President, then it should be done under the Attorney General’s name. 

However, this does not mean that the Attorney General is obliged to protect the President at all times. What is required is that the Attorney General express his independent views to the court as an amicus of the court. In this situation, we might even have to change certain paragraphs in the 19th Amendment, especially in situations like the past 52-day controversy,” he explained.

“During that period when the Speaker sought the advice of the Attorney General, they said that if the issue was taken to court, they might have to represent the President and therefore refused to advise the Speaker. Similarly, the Legal Advisor to the Government is the Attorney General. Hence there is a conflict of interest. If the Attorney General has to act as instructed by the President as a client, then there arises an issue regarding their independence,” he added.

Joining the Committee Stage Program of Budget 2019, Wickramaratne also held the selection of judges to the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal should be taken out from the President’s hands to establish independence and the integrity of the appointees.