Her Lordship! First Woman Chief Justice sworn in

Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake President’s Counsel and Judge of the Supreme Court, took her oaths before President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Chief Justice yesterday. She is the 33rd Chief Justice of the Republic of Sri Lanka and the first female Chief Justice in Sri Lanka.  Chief Justice Asoka De Silva who was appointed in June 2000 retired on 17 May.

Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake had served in the capacity of Acting Chief Justice on several occasions. While being a senior lecturer in the Law Faculty of the Colombo University, she was appointed as a Supreme Court Judge in 1996. Dr. Bandaranayake is currently the senior-most Supreme Court Judge

Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, born in April 1958, obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo in 1980, and her PhD from the University of London in 1986.



After admission to the bar, she worked as an attorney-at-law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, and as a lecturer at the University of Colombo. She was later appointed Dean of the Faculty of Law, and also served on the Judicial Service Commission of Sri Lanka.

Dr. Bandaranayake was first appointed to the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 1996, becoming the first female Supreme Court Judge in Sri Lanka. (www.news.lk)