Today it was ruled by the Appeal Court comprising of three appeal Court Judges that the Parliament cannot bring forward an Impeachment motion against the Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayake. In addition there is no provision under the constitution to appoint a Select Committee to investigate into irregularities committed by the Chief Justice.The Supreme Court has brought this matter to the Appeal Court for clarification. The case was heard today under a bench comprising of three Appeal court Judges. The Chairman was S.Skandaraja, Anil Gunaratna and A.W Salam.
The Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayake has brought two motions against her impeachment to the Appeal court for investigation. It was revealed by the appeal court that these have been a gross violation of the human rights of the Chief Justice. It had been revealed by the Appeal court that these irregular measures have affected the entire Judiciary system. This was made clear to all by the Judges of the Appeal court.
The select committee appointed to probe into the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice Had been under Act no 107 (1) act under the constitution of the Government and under the standing order Act no 78(A), the Appeal court had clarified. In terms of the standing order Act No 78 (A) it was proved as not a law and hence such a committee has no power to probe into such allegations.
In this context new laws have to enacted and passed by the Parliament to take action against such acts. Otherwise a new Judiciary System or an alternate Institution has to be established to probe into such matters was revealed by the Judges of the appeal Court.
The standing order Act No 78(A) is only applicable to normal activities of the Parliament. A select committee appointed by the Parliament have absolutely no powers in this matter, the Judges of the Appeal court unanimously disclosed. What they finally reported was that new laws in this regard have to be enacted and passed by the Parliament for matters of this nature.
(Cull From GL)
