Blatant disregard of independence of Constitutional Council allegation in nomination of new Presid

In blatant disregard of the independence of the Constitutional Council and Judiciary, Chief Justice Priyasad Depp has been forced by the President’s office to nominate the third person in the seniority list, Justice P.R. Walgama, for consideration as the new President of the Court of Appeal.  

Reliable sources say the Chief Justice was ordered to issue the nomination in writing within 15 minutes by the President’s office. The current President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Vijith K. Malalgoda PC, was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court last week.

A major crisis is taking place within the Judiciary. The Independence of the Judiciary is being threatened by the interference of President Maithripala Sirisena. The Judicial Service Commission too is up in arms on the forced nomination by President Sirisena to name the third most senior person to be appointed as the President of the Court of Appeal, ignoring two senior judges. 

Upon the appointment of Justice Malalgoda as a Judge of the Supreme Court, the vacancy should have been filled by the second in line of seniority, Deepali Wijesundera. Reliable source say that there has been opposition from the Government to the appointment of Deepali Wijesundara because she as President of the Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar convicted former Army Commander Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka to three years in prison in the ‘White Flag’ case due to pressure exerted by Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The Constitutional Council, headed by   Karu Jayasuriya, has the authority to reject the nomination. The other members of the Constitutional Council include Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, ministers Champika Ranawaka, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, John Seneviratne, JVP Parliamentarian Vijitha Herath, senior civil society leader A.T. Ariyaratne, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy and former Solicitor General and President’s Counsel Shibly Aziz.