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‘Today will be remembered as the day when time and nature brought about justice’: CJ 43
Witnessing the erosion of justice and the downfall of this hallowed institution for the past 746 days was as painful as her unlawful impeachment, said Chief Justice 43 Shirani Bandaranayake on her final day at office.
Shirani Bandaranayake: CJ 43
She was addressing the Supreme Court’s ceremonial sitting to mark her farewell, a day after she was reinstated to the office on Wednesday.
Supreme Court judges, President Court of Appeal, judges of the Court of Appeal and senior lawyers attended the ceremony arranged by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) to say goodbye to the first ever woman Chief Justice in the history of Sri Lanka’s judiciary.
“Today marks 746 days since I left office on the basis of an unlawful and illegal impeachment. I am glad that I am able tosee before me today, those who stood by me since then, in the struggle to achieve an independent judiciary in our country,” she said.
Ms. Bandaranayake said that to instil trust and confidence in the judiciary, suitable and qualified people should adorn this bench and it was an independent judiciary that would lead to a truly democratic country.
“I have been bestowed with a breadth of opportunities by my country, a debt which in my 16 years of service within these hallowed walls of Justice, I have tried to repay. I believe in that period, I have done my utmost to uphold the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.
“For those who have devoted their lives to their profession, the compulsion to refrain from it, unjustifiably is a sentence of imprisonment. When such compulsion is founded upon baseless allegations, such imprisonment is made even more rigorous and torturous,” she said.
Lawyers and civic rights activists demonstrating, calling for the removal of Mohan Peiris and the reinstatement of Shirani Bandaranayake as Chief Justice
The former CJ added that in the 16 years of service in the judiciary, having delivered over 320 considered judgments, she has taken utmost care to uphold the esteemed office that is, of a Judge and Chief Justice.
“The battle which was fought for the past two years was not a personal one but one which was fought to uphold the rule of law and the integrity and independence of this institution. I may come and I may go, what matters is not the individual that holds this esteemed office, but the continued existence of its independence and its ability to deliver justice without fear, bias or favour. I am thankful to be able to bid farewell, knowing the fact that generations from now, when society looks back, at this occasion today, it would be 
remembered as a day on which, time and nature brought about justice,” she added.
BASL president Upul Jayasuriya who made a special speech at the ceremonial chamber said that as a representative of the unofficial Bar they are grateful to the former Chief Justice for the battle that she fought at great sacrifice that put two years of her life into hibernation with much anguish and pain.
“It is common knowledge that the unwavering stand of the Bar was that the purported removal of Your Ladyship was unconstitutional, unlawful, null and void and of no force or effect in Law and that, any purported appointment done placing reliance on Your Ladyship’s purported removal, was also necessarily, unconstitutional, unlawful, null and void and of no force or effect in Law.”
Mr Jayasuriya added that during this journey and the struggle, the Bench and the Bar both had to make sacrifices, such as the late Justice Sri Skandaraja whose name has to be inscribed in golden lettering, remembered and revered.
“The Executive wrath had no bounds or confines on him. He was called to pay the supreme sacrifice for what he thought was right. Let no judge in the future be faced with the torture and agony that he went through for his forthrightness. That’s not all, Justice Anil Gunaratne was the other judge who had to face the same egocentric arrogance of the Executive. He was overlooked thrice for the same sin of having quashed the Select Committee findings,” he said.
He reminded that CJ 43 would have to share the responsibility for the introduction of the 18th Amendment with no referendum by the people.
“The 17th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was to put our country in that right direction. In a rare unanimous vote Parliament set the record straight and appointed a Constitutional Council to select and recommend appointments to the Executive to fill the vacancies to the Apex Courts. Tragically the 18th Amendment reversed this trend.
“After a long journey of hatred, revulsion, abhorrence and turbulence we have now reached a phase of tranquility, serenity and harmony. We have reached the distant dawn. The people have been afforded this new lease of life. They have paid for it. And we owe it to them,” Mr. Jayasuriya said.