President Sirisena assures independence of judiciary

President Maithripala Sirisena said on Tuesday that the government had not interfered  with the independence of the judicial service and pledged that as long as he was in office he would not allow any interference.

Making the keynote speech at Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) feciliation ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the appointment of eminent jurist C. G. Weeramantry as a judge, the president said an independent judicial service was one of the time tested pillars of democracy.

Speaking in the presence of Chief Justice K. Sripavan, the president of the Court of Appeal and other judges, the president said that with judges of the caliber and potential of justice Weeramantry among us, the government saw no need to import judges- an apparent reference to the Geneva Resolution.

Justice Weeramantry making the concluding speech at the ceremony organized by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), said that during his time as a judge from 1965- 1972 Sri Lanka’s judicial service and especially the Supreme Court were widely regarded as the best and most independent in the Commonwealth.

He said he hoped its image and status were being restored and consolidated soon. Justcie Weeramantry said that enlighted values of major religions- Buddhism, Christianity, Hindusium and Islam could serve as powerful guidelines for the judicial service to become a selfless and sacrificial occasion on the lines of the priesthood.

During the past few weeks, the Sunday Times has published Justice Weeramantry’s comprehensive articles on the influence that religious values could have on reviving the independence and people friendly spirit of the judicial service.

Copies of the Sunday Times articles were printed by the BASL and distributed to judges, lawyers, and others at Tuesday’s well attended ceremony.

Justice Weeramantry who began his law practice in 1948 was appointed as a judge or the Commissioner of Assize in 1965. Two years later at the age of 41, he was appointed as the youngest -ever judge of the Supreme Court. He could have gone for 25 years- but in 1972 he decided to retire and take up a high academic post in the prestious Monash university in Australia.

Later he became the first Srilankan to be appointed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague. He rose to be the senior vice president of the ICJ till his retirement in 2001. 

During his seventy years career in the legal profession, judicial service and the academic field, Justice Weeramantry had the rare distinction of having written about 25 books.

Chief Justice Sripavan in his speech quoted from the “Tirukkural”, part of Hindu’s holy scriptures written by Thiruvalluvar to show how the judicial services could be inspired by the guidelines of religious values. 

Among others who spoke were Attorney General Yuwanjana Wijethilake and BASL president Geoffrey Alagaratnam.