Purawasi Balaya urges Govt. to follow 19A in appointing judges

By Waruni Paranagama

The Purawasi Balaya yesterday urged the Government to reappoint judges in the Administrative Courts following the 19th Amendment to theConstitution to establish judicial sovereignty in the country.

Addressing the media, Purawasi Balaya co-organiser K.W. Janaranjana emphasised that the Government should appoint the Constitutional Council members with immediate effect to re-establish the commissions and administrations officials scheduled in the Act.

He said the recent incidents that had occurred in the High Court benches could not be approved of in relation to judicial sovereignty.

He said the petition submitted by former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa before the Supreme Court regarding the violation of his Fundamental Rights had resulted in the appointment of a three-Judge bench to consider his petition. 

One of the Judges stepped down from the hearing, informing Courtthat he had a personal affiliation with the petitioner. However, Justice Eva Wanasundara who had been associating former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had also been appointed to the bench.

“In a recent interview Eva Wanasundara had with the Deshayanewspaper, she had said that she was appointed as a High Court Judge as a result of being a close friend of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa,” he said. 

Therefore, Janaranjana raised concerns over appointing judges via personal contacts as being a deterrent to establishing a judicial sovereignty in the country. 

He also requested all Supreme Court and Appeal Court Judges who were appointed with political and personal influence to withdraw from their current positions to implement the 19thamendment to the Constitution.