Parliamentary Council to consider IGP, CA nominees today

• Chandana Wickramaratne to be appointed IGP after more than a year as Acting Police Chief
• 14 names forwarded to PC by President for CA bench
• 10 judges drawn from HC, 2 from AG’s Dept. and 2 from private bar nominated for CA 

By Chandani Kirinde 

After more than a year as the Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Chandana Wickramaratne is to be confirmed to the post.

His name has been submitted by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to the Parliamentary Council for its observations in keeping with the provisions of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution.  The Council will meet today at 4 p.m. under the patronage of the Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene when its members will also consider the President’s nominees to fill vacancies in the Court of Appeal.

The President has forwarded 14 names of whom 10 are drawn from the High Court, two from the Attorney General’s Department and two from the private bar.

The Parliamentary Council which replaced the Constitutional Council (CC) is empowered to make observations on the nominees sent by the President. It has a week to communicate its observations, failing which the President can go ahead and confirm the appointments.

The five-member PC is headed by the Speaker and has as its two ex-officio members the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. Its two other members are Minister Douglas Devananda who is the PM’s nominee and SJB MP Kabeer Hashim who is the Opposition Leader’s nominee.

The High Court Judges who will be elevated to the CA are Menaka Wijesundera, D.N. Samarakoon, M. Prasantha De Silva, M.T.M. Laffar, C. Pradeep Keerthisinghe, Sampath B. Abeykoon, M.S.K.B. Wijeratne, R. Gurusinghe, G.A.D. Ganepola and K.K.A.V. Swaradhipathi while Mayadunne Corea and Prabhaharan Kumararatnam from the Attorney General’s Department have also been nominated.

The two members of the private bar who have been nominated to the CA bench are Deputy Secretary of Parliament and Chief of Staff W.M.N.P. Iddawela and Sampath Mendis. The composition of the Court of Appeal (CA) was increased from 11 to 19 by the 20th Amendment to the Constitution. There are 14 vacancies on the CA bench with six of its Judges being elevated to the Supreme Court, the composition of which was also changed from 10 to 16 by the 20th Amendment.

The CA Judges who are elevated to the SC are Justices A.M.D. Nawaz, Kumudini Wickremesinghe, Shiran Gunaratne, Achala Wengappuli, Mahinda Samayawardana and Janak de Silva. They are the most senior most Judges in the CA.

Justice Arjuna Obeyesekere has been named as President of the Court of Appeal in place of Justice Nawaz who has been promoted to the SC.