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Monday Dec 16, 2024
Saturday, 12 January 2013 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Dharisha Bastians
Firecrackers rent the air near the Parliament Complex last night, as the Government passed a resolution of impeachment against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake at about 7:40 p.m.
In a watershed moment that follows months of tension between the Executive and the Judiciary, the Government passed the impeachment resolution with 155 legislators voting for, 49 against, and 20 abstentions.
It is the first time in the history of the republic that the Parliament of Sri Lanka has voted to oust the country’s Chief Justice.
Communist Party Members D.E.W. Gunesekera and Chandrasiri Gajadeera and LSSP legislators Tissa Vitarana and Y.G. Padmasiri were absent at the vote, despite being coalition partners of the ruling UPFA.
UPFA National List MP Rajiva Wijesinha was also absent from the key vote while Citizens’ Front MP Sri Ranga Jeyarathnam, an Opposition member who supports the Government, voted against the motion to impeach. The seven members of the JVP-led DNA boycotted the impeachment debate and vote.
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress General Secretary Hassan Ali was also absent at the vote. The SLMC, including Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem, voted to impeach the Chief Justice.
A motion of impeachment against a sitting judge of the Superior Court only requires an absolute majority of 113 legislators to pass according to the Constitution.
The resolution of impeachment was prepared in the Select Committee room by Parliament officials even as the debate was ongoing.
The Speaker was to sign the Resolution and it was to be dispatched to President Rajapaksa last night. The President was also expected to make a Presidential proclamation ousting Bandaranayake from her position as Head of the country’s Judiciary in due course.
The passing of the Impeachment Resolution by a massive majority was heralded by a spectacular fireworks display across Parliament that was set off by the Naval Parliament Boat Service on the Diyawanna Oya.
Firecracker debris also littered the Parliament road, where thousands of pro-Government demonstrators were active since midmorning, holding placards and shouting slogans demanding that Bandaranayake steps down from office. The supporters were transported to Colombo by SLFP district organisers in several dozen buses that were stationed along the Parliament and Madiwela Roads.
Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and other Government officials watched the fireworks display from the Parliament foyer on the second floor soon after the results of the vote were announced.
The impeachment takes place despite two of the country’s highest courts, the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, ruling that the legislative committee probing the impeachment charges against Bandaranayake had no basis in law.
Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa was forced to suspend sittings for nearly 30 minutes after the Opposition mounted an eleventh hour bid to stop the impeachment resolution from passing, claiming that the Resolution of Impeachment was not included in the Order Paper, which only indicated that a motion of impeachment had been presented. Opposition legislators charged that there was no Resolution of Impeachment to be voted in yesterday’s Parliament Order Paper.
Speaking at the impeachment debate yesterday, Housing Minister and Member of the PSC that probed the impeachment against Bandaranayake Wimal Weerawansa charged that the Chief Justice was carrying out the LTTE’s agenda for the benefit of the UN in Geneva.
“All sins can’t be covered by shouting about process. What about the processes adopted by the Judicial Services Commission? The Chief Justice has threatened judges,” Weerawansa charged. The vociferous Government Minister alleged that Bandaranayake had written the Supreme Court interpretation on the Constitution that went against the PSC and accused her of having convened the higher courts during court vacation in order to have a writ passed on the Parliament.
“How was the Court of Appeal verdict provided in an hour? Doesn’t anyone ask that question?” Weerawansa charged. He added that if the process to impeach judges was flawed, legislators could ‘fix it later’.
Also speaking at the debate last evening, PSC Chairman and Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said that he disagreed with the Opposition’s contention that there was no procedure adopted at the Committee. Yapa denied the claim that some Government PSC members had abused the Chief Justice, saying all questions and discussions were directed to Bandaranayake’s Senior Counsel Romesh De Silva, PC. “It was a highly disciplined PSC that heard this case,” he charged.
Chief Opposition Whip and PSC Member John Amaratunge charged however that there was a shocking hurry in which the Government members wanted to get through the PSC process. UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa condemned the Government for its unconstitutional actions, charging that the word ‘supreme’ had only been used once in the Sri Lankan Constitution, in the preamble that states that the Constitution shall be the supreme law of the land.
“In going through with this impeachment, this Government has usurped the power of the Supreme Court granted by the Constitution, torn up the Constitution, and relegated it to the dustbin of history,” Premadasa told the House.
