Tillekeratne appointed Acting Attorney General

Thursday, 8 May 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

President’s Counsel and Senior Additional Solicitor General Bimba Tillekeratne has been appointed as the Acting Attorney General by the President until AG S.P. Fernando returns to the Island. Tillekeratne is a graduate in law of the University of Colombo and the recipient of a fellowship awarded by the Government of Netherlands which facilitated her to obtain postgraduate qualifications in international law. She has been an examiner at the Sri Lanka Law College and a visiting lecturer of the University of Colombo, LLM program. She has received training in legislative drafting in New Delhi conducted by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

She was called to the bar in 1981 and to the inner bar in July 2011. She joined the Attorney General’s Department in 1983 as an Acting State Counsel. She has held senior positions in the AG’s Department as Senior State Counsel, Deputy Solicitor General, Additional Solicitor General and Senior Additional Solicitor General. She has also acted as the Solicitor General. Presently, she is the third officer in order of seniority. She has served in both criminal and civil divisions and has conducted prosecutions in the High Courts of Colombo, Panadura, Kalutara, Negombo, Chilaw, etc. and also appeared in the CCA when she was in the Criminal Division. Her service in the AG’s Department stands at over 31 years. She is also the first lady Senior Additional Solicitor General of the AG’s Department. She has represented the Government of Sri Lanka at several symposia and conferences during her long and unbroken service in the AG’s Department. She has trained many young lawyers who are now holding important positions in many fields. She has been a member of the Board of Studies which advises the Council of Legal Education on academic matters for the last eight years. Considering the expertise she has gained in the area of environmental law, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has sought her assistance on many occasions when the court was called upon to determine complex environmental issues. Several litigations involving the construction of the Southern Expressway and the Colombo-Kandy Expressway are some of the development projects which formed the subject matter of some cases she has handled on behalf of the State. Fundamental rights applications concerning air pollution, sand mining, noise pollution, garbage disposal are few of the landmark cases she handled as Senior Counsel. She is an old girl of St. Bridget’s Convent, Colombo 7 and St. Paul’s Convent Kelaniya.