අධිකරණය කොයිබටද?
Ivan cites cases showing the judiciary’s decline: a Galle magistrate interdicted for fraud, judges accused of sexual abuse, a district judge found biased in a case against the head of the Court of Appeal, and a Chief Justice appointed while facing disbarment petitions. He explains the separation of powers, recalls J.R. Jayewardene’s purge of the Supreme Court and Neville Samarakoon’s resistance, the 1982 referendum ruling, and warns that without reform the executive will swallow judicial power.
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.