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No court could earn public esteem without discharging its duties impartially: Outgoing CJ
View(s):By Ranjith Padmasiri
It is important to maintain protection of judges in their judicial functions from each and every facet of society including the executive and the legislature, outgoing Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya stressed.
Speaking during the ceremonial sitting at the Supreme Court on Thursday (29) to bid him farewell, Chief Justice Jayasuriya added that whilst the responsibility to create such an environment for the proper functioning of the justice sector remains on the shoulders of the executive and the legislature, “a deeper responsibility remains on the judges to ensure that their conduct would not compromise on impartiality, a quality that each judge should possess.”
Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya
“Impartiality” is a universally accepted inalienable characteristic of a tribunal. The presence of such an invaluable virtue in a judge is essential to the successful dispensation of justice and to protect the rule of law, he observed.
“There is no doubt that no institution deserves to survive in a democracy unless it earns public esteem. Judiciary is no exception to this rule. No court could earn public esteem without discharging its duties impartially. Therefore, the conduct of a judge that compromises impartiality poses a great danger to the entire administration of the justice system in a country,” Justice Jayasuriya said.
The Supreme Court which has a 225-year long history in the justice system, being the final appellate court, a heavier burden and a greater responsibility rests on every judge who takes a seat in this court, he remarked.
“A litigant who seeks justice from us, whether it is the state or an individual, will see the finality in the resolution of the dispute through the judicial process by the judgment of this court. The responsibility to win public confidence and earn public respect rests solely on us. An impeccable conduct would lead us to achieve such confidence and respect. Any adverse impression will not only affect the individual judge but will lower the dignity of the whole institution. Such situations could have an adverse impact affecting the entire judicial mechanism. It remains our responsibility to ensure that the judicial functions are carried out by us with due respect to the litigant as well as the counsel who pleads his case, irrespective of the strengths or weaknesses in the case that is presented before us.”
He observed that as the bar is an essential and integral part of the administration of justice mechanism, a great responsibility to ensure that the members of the bar would always act with professionalism and due respect to the long-standing traditions, rules and ethics, lies with the bar itself. The relationship between the bench and the bar has an important place in creating a conducive environment to function the administration of justice mechanism with due focus on the prime beneficiary of the system – the litigant. Neither the members of the judiciary nor the members of the bar should lose sight of this factor of high importance, he stressed.
The prestige and the standing which the judiciary enjoys today is the cumulative effect of high traditions built up and sacredly preserved by a succession of judges for a long period of time. Litigants including the state should not regard decisions against them as unfriendly acts and they should abide by the judgement of the final court, said Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe, PC, as he bid farewell to the outgoing Chief Justice.
He paid tribute to Justice Jayasuriya, noting that during his tenure as the Chief Justice, the Supreme Court was faced with many a challenging task of pronouncing decisions on a number of constitutional issues touching the very foundation of the rule of law. There were times the entire Supreme Court was under constant public scrutiny, he pointed out. “The exposure and the experience that Your Lordship had acquired over a period of almost 4 decades was reflected when Your Lordship led the Supreme Court to pronounce an array of decisions based on sound principles of law and reason. These decisions helped in no small measure to enhance public confidence and public perception of our judicial system,” he said.
President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) Anura Meddegoda, PC, praised the CJ for the way he ensured that the administration of justice was carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic, and for the way he incorporated technology into the justice system.
“One of the measures adopted during this period to ensure the continuity of the work of courts, without adding to the backlog of litigation that already ails our legal system, was the adoption of technology. Without allowing these good practices which were born out of necessity to die out, like most other lessons we learnt from the pandemic, Your Lordship championed the inclusion of technology in the administration of justice. Thanks to these efforts we now have a permanent Division of the Supreme Court that conducts virtual sittings; the digitalisation of some aspects of the Registry of the Supreme Court, which is of immense benefit to lawyers engaged in instructing counsel; and trial programmes on court automation in outstation bars. These are aspects of Your Lordship’s footprint in the administration of justice that can never be erased,” he stressed.
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