Chitrasiri J appointed to Court of Appeal

Commercial High Court Judge K.T. Chitrasiri has been appointed to the Court of Appeal. Justice Chitrasiri entered the University of Sri Lanka in 1972 having obtained the best results at Royal College for G.C.E. ‘A’ Level examination. He had his primary education at Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda.
He passed out as a law graduate in 1975 and was appointed a visiting lecturer at the university.

Chitrasiri J

He enrolled as an attorney-at-law in March 1977 and commenced practicing both in the civil and criminal cases at the Balapitiya Bar. He apprenticed at the chambers of the late P. Navaratnarajah Q.C.

In March 1979, he joined the Legal Draftsman’s Department as an Assistant Legal Draftsman and was appointed a judicial officer the next year. Over the years he functioned at several important stations including Kandy, Galle, and Panadura. He also served as the Chief Magistrate of Colombo and District Judge Colombo.

He later proceeded to the United Kingdom to pursue his post graduate studies at Queen Mary College, University of London where he majored in Intellectual Property Law. In 2002, Justice Chitrasiri was appointed Judge of the Commercial High Court and served in this capacity till 2009. He served in this Court for the longest period.

He also functioned as the Director, Human Rights Commission, the Registrar of Companies and was a member of the panel of lecturers at the Judges Institute of Sri Lanka. He was the Assistant Secretary of the Judicial Services Association of Sri Lanka and Secretary High Court Judges Association of Sri Lanka.

He has presented papers at various seminars both locally and internationally on a variety of subjects. He was also a guest lecturer at the Law College and Faculty of Law.

He authored “Decisions on Intellectual Property Issues of the Commercial High Court of Sri Lanka” in March 2005. Justice Chitrasiri has made an immense contribution towards the development of ICT law especially in accepting short messages (SMS) evidence in Court proceedings and introduced the use of video conferencing to record evidence from points outside the country.