අධිකරණය කොයිබටද?
The editorial says the judiciary now produces the kind of horror stories once heard from the underworld: death threats against the two district judges who petitioned against the Chief Justice and against Desmond Fernando, posters against the judges on Supreme Court premises, and a petitioner jailed and beaten. Police have named Rohana Kumara, a notorious criminal and associate of the Chief Justice, as behind the threats, and a former prisons commissioner as among those behind the posters, while lawyers, rights groups and the government stay silent.
බොරුවෙන්ම ජීවත් වන රට හා ව්යවස්ථා සභාව
Ivan argues that the Constitutional Council, demanded by civil society to curb presidential appointments, was hollowed out from the start. He details how Jayampathy Wickramaratne’s draft of the 17th Amendment removed the seniority rule for the Judicial Service Commission to protect Sarath N. Silva, how the Speaker signed the unamended bill, and the injunction against the Speaker over the impeachment. He adds that the Council, made up only of lawyers, has set up just two commissions while the President blocks appointments such as Ranjith Dheeraratne’s.
අඳ-ගොළු-බිහිරි පාර්ලිමේන්තුව
Ivan argues that Parliament, unlike legislatures elsewhere, ignores citizens’ complaints and media exposures. His examples include the Bribery Commission’s ruling on Mangala Samaraweera’s credit-card spending, its refusal to act on his own complaint against the Chief Justice, and Ravaya’s 2001 exposure of abuses by the Public Trustee, including misuse of the Samarakoon fund meant for poor couples’ dowries. He cites the Marga survey and the IBA report on the judiciary, which Parliament never debated, and the UNP’s silence on the Chief Justice now it is in government.
මනාලයා නැතිව පැවති මගුල
An international workshop on strengthening judicial credibility, attended by chief justices of nine countries and opened by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Colombo Oberoi, went ahead with the Sri Lankan Chief Justice’s chair empty amid a Free Media Movement protest. The piece notes comments by Justice Bhagwati and Justice Kirby, and describes media lobbies that shielded Lenin Ratnayake and now protect Sarath N. Silva, including an editor barred by his management from criticising the Chief Justice.
ස්වාධීනත්වයට දක්වන බිය
The editorial notes that the fight for judicial independence since Sarath N. Silva’s appointment as Chief Justice has come from outside the judiciary, and that a Bar Association committee report by K. Narendra Kumar endorsing the International Bar Association’s findings was suppressed. It reports that the Judicial Service Officers’ Association has now made judicial independence the theme of its 60th anniversary, and that the Chief Justice tried to wreck the event by withholding funds and leave and calling a compulsory paid seminar on the same day.
චන්ද්රිකා + රනිල් ඒකත් ජයසිරී මංගලම්
With the 19th Amendment blocked, Ivan sees a stalemate that could push Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe into a temporary political marriage: he to protect the peace process, she to halt inquiries into corruption and crimes linked to her security division and to secure her family’s political future. A second section argues she has turned to wrecking the peace process and defends talks with Prabhakaran. A third questions Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva’s handling of complaints against himself and his alliance with Hemantha Warnakulasuriya.
අන්තෝ ජටා-බහි ජටා
Ivan links four events of one week: charges finally filed against former railway general manager Wack Silva, first exposed by Ravaya in 1992; the removal of magistrate Lenin Ratnayake; a seminar on judicial independence addressed by Lord Brennan, Rohan Edrisinha and Ranil Wickremesinghe; and the launch of his book ‘Nonimi Aragalaya’ on the judicial crisis. He recounts the husbands of the two abused women, one later murdered after testifying, and lists unanswered questions about Sarath N. Silva, Upali Abeyratne and the inquiries.
අධිකරණ සේවයෙන් ලෙනින් රත්නායක පිටමං කිරීම
After more than five years, the Judicial Service Commission has decided to remove magistrate Lenin Ratnayake, whom a three-judge inquiry had found guilty on four serious charges but who was meanwhile kept on compulsory paid leave. The editorial recalls that he had been dismissed from the Insurance Corporation for fraud before joining the judiciary and was accused of sexually abusing two women connected to cases before him, and holds Sarath N. Silva responsible for shielding him. It calls for wider judicial reform beyond removing the Chief Justice.
නීතිය ඔලුවෙන් සිටුවීම
Ivan rejects the Bribery Commission’s ruling that the Chief Justice is not a public servant and that his complaint against Sarath N. Silva and Lenin Ratnayake falls outside its remit, citing the Penal Code and the assets law. Further sections argue that the 17th Amendment was certified without its transitional provisions, leaving the existing commissions without legal standing; criticise the Constitutional Council’s demand for immunity through an 18th Amendment; and ask whether the securities found in Anuruddha Ratwatte’s safes will be pursued.
මේව දැකල පණ පලයන් පෙරේදා
Ivan recounts eight numbered first-person incidents about the judiciary: a former PA minister urging a friend to ‘shape’ Ivan over the Chief Justice; a judge’s tale of a colleague who fathered his maid’s child; a journalist spreading word that the government would drop impeachment; talk with an Attorney General’s officer; a judge’s account of W.J.M. Lokubandara’s changed stance; a Constitutional Council member alleged to draw his daughter’s salary; a bribe paid for Sirimavo Bandaranaike in the SLFP case; and Abeysinghe, who tried to strangle Lenin Ratnayake.