No objections to appointment of High Court Judge R. Kannan: BASL

By T. Farook Thajudeen

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka, through a circular, stated that there was much speculation relating to the appointment of Ramaiah Kannan as a Judge of the Jaffna High Court.

In the circular the BASL stated that for over a year representations were made by lawyers, especially from the Eastern Province, over an acute shortage of High Court Judges in the Northern and Eastern Provinces who were conversant in Tamil, resulting in a backlog and delay in the disposal of cases.

The BASL says that representations were made both at Bar Council and Executive Committee meetings of the association and the issue was taken up at regular Bench and Bar meetings between representatives of the Bar Association and the Chief Justice and other members of the Judicial Services Commission on several occasions. At the meetings it was indicated that there was a serious shortage of Tamil-speaking career judges senior enough to be promoted to the High Court. The BASL underscored that even the Attorney General’s Department was unwilling to release its officers who were conversant in Tamil for such appointments due to its heavy reliance on its very few Tamil officers.

As a result it was suggested by the Chief Justice that if members of the Unofficial Bar even from the Northern and Eastern Provinces were willing to give up their practice and offer themselves for such an appointment, the same would be considered and that they could be posted outside the province of their practice. 

In August 2016 a member of the Akkaraipattu Bar was recommended and his application was supported by a senior President’s Counsel was forwarded to the Chief Justice to be considered for such an appointment through the constitutional process but did not naturalise.

However, in September 2016 Kannan’s application was forwarded by the President of the Batticaloa Bar to the Executive Committee of BASL. The referees were a former Attorney General and a retired Additional Solicitor General as Kannan, prior to taking up private practice, had been an officer of the Attorney General’s Department for nearly 12 years. 

Upon making inquiries from several members of the legal fraternity about his suitability, the Executive Committee of the BASL was advised that Kannan was a competent individual of integrity, who was trilingual and possessed over 17 years’ experience as a legal practitioner with a successful practice.