Hands off judiciary: lawyers tell Government

- Pic by Pradeep Pathirana

Scores of lawyers participated in a peaceful demonstration before the Aluthkade court premises yesterday against the recent attempts to allegedly intimidate and threaten the country’s judiciary. 

The protestors held placards asking the Government to keep its hands off the judiciary and accused the ‘Ranil-Rajapaksa’ regime of being the cat’s paw behind fellow lawyer MP Premnath C. Dolawatte, who claimed that the privileges of MPs have been violated through the recent interim order issued by the Supreme Court with regard to funds allocated for elections. Based on his claim the matter was referred to the Parliamentary Committee on Ethics and Privileges by the Speaker and is expected as practice the judges who delivered the order will be called before the committee.

Hands...Addressing the media at the protest, Attorney at Law Sunil Watagala said President Ranil Wickremesinghe has made a decision to not hold local Government polls. Pointing to the interim order issued on 3 March ordering relevant officials to not withhold funds allocated for the election, Watagala said Dolawatte and Minister Shehan Semasinghe on two occasions made statements claiming their privileges as MPs have been violated through it.

“They claimed the judges who delivered the interim order must be brought before Parliament or the privileges committee while Shehan Semasinghe said the interim order must be disregarded till the time the matter is decided. Both these statements are a threat to the independence of the judiciary,” he said.

The lawyer said the committee has decided to bring Dolawatte before it on 6 April to obtain a statement and to continue with the inquiry process thereafter. Watagala said the MPs are attempting to imply that the judiciary is meddling with parliamentary matters and accused President Ranil Wickremesinghe of being the real face behind the complaint. He said this is a direct interference with the court. “If the matter is not withdrawn on 6 April by the committee, we will commence mass protests against these moves to summon the judges,” the lawyer added.