Nov 04, 2012 (LBO) - The Rajapaksha Regime, through its parliamentarians, handed over an impeachment motion to the Speaker, the elder brother of the President Rajapaksha against the first woman Chief Justice of the country.
It appears that the Government of Sri Lanka is in a mighty hurry to get rid of the Chief Justice so that a major obstacle for government’s capricious track is removed. With the handing over of the impeachment, the government has signaled to the entire public service and judiciary two rules - thatthe Regime is superior to the Law and that Rule of Law does not exist in the country. This short article is written to bring out several vital issues thatthe public should not lose sight of, in relation to the present impeachment attempt.
Background
The events leading to the impeachment demonstrates that the move to impeach the CJ is nothing but a political witch-hunt. The tension between judiciary and executive started with Minister Bathirdeen’s unsuccessful attempt to influence the Magistrate of Mannar, resulting inan attack on the Magistrate’s court. Then there were attempts by the Executive to influence the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) on disciplinary matters, where