JSC: More questions than answers
The Judicial Services Commission has answered the criticism in an International Bar Association report on the state of the Sri Lankan judiciary. Its answer, Ivan writes, raises more questions than it settles — and he was the complainant in one of the inquiries it describes.
Giving more teeth to constitutional council
A constitutional council with the power to recommend people for the top posts, with five independent commissions under it, would be a significant step towards taking the administration out of politics. What it would need to be worth having is set out here.
Executive Gobbles up Judiciary
Why did the President, against every accepted norm of morality, appoint Sarath N. Silva to the vacant post of Chief Justice at a time when very serious allegations against him were being inquired into before the Supreme Court? And how will that act work on society and on politics?
Dishonourable acts taint an ‘honourable’ judicial service
The questions raised about the Judicial Service by the conduct of Magistrate Lenin Ratnayake, District Judge Upali Abeyratne and Attorney General Sarath N. Silva — three men at three different levels of it — are serious indeed.
The all important Chief Justice
Power has been understood since Aristotle as divisible into three — legislative, executive, judicial. Sri Lanka’s recent judicial history holds tragic instances of judges bending to the narrow political interests of government leaders, and famous instances of judges standing up to them. This column is about which way the office of Chief Justice now points.