Rajapaksa sacks Sri Lanka’s first woman Chief Justice
14 Jan 2013 7:47 AM IST
Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday sacked the country’s first woman chief justice by ratifying her controversial impeachment by Parliament on corruption charges, pushing the nation into the brink of a major constitutional stand-off.
54-year-old Shirani Bandaranayake was served a notice ordering her to quit her post, two days after Parliament voted to impeach her, deepening the row between the judiciary and government. Presidential aide Wijayananda Herath said the letter signed by Rajapaksa was delivered at the chief justice’s residence. Bandaranayake’s lawyers confirmed the receipt of the letter of her removal.
The impeachment of Bandaranayake had earlier been ruled unconstitutional by courts and a finding by the Parliamentary panel that held her ‘guilty’ had been quashed. By ordering the sacking of Bandaranayake, Rajapaksa acted in defiance of global pleas for a review of the process, including from the US and UN.
The Parliamentary committee on 8 December, 2012, had ruled that Bandaranayake was guilty of three of the 14 charges in the impeachment proceedings against her moved by the ruling UPFA coalition legislators.
The three charges were of financial impropriety based on non-declaration of assets and conflict of interest in a case involving a failed investment company. Bandaranayake denied all the charges against her. On December 6, she stormed out of the impeachment hearing in Parliament, saying she would not be given a fair trial. She also claimed that she faced verbal abuse by the government members of the Parliamentary committee. On Friday, the Parliament voted 155 to 49 to dismiss Bandaranayake, whose recent rulings had gone against the government.
54-year-old Shirani Bandaranayake was served a notice ordering her to quit her post, two days after Parliament voted to impeach her, deepening the row between the judiciary and government. Presidential aide Wijayananda Herath said the letter signed by Rajapaksa was delivered at the chief justice’s residence. Bandaranayake’s lawyers confirmed the receipt of the letter of her removal.
The impeachment of Bandaranayake had earlier been ruled unconstitutional by courts and a finding by the Parliamentary panel that held her ‘guilty’ had been quashed. By ordering the sacking of Bandaranayake, Rajapaksa acted in defiance of global pleas for a review of the process, including from the US and UN.
The Parliamentary committee on 8 December, 2012, had ruled that Bandaranayake was guilty of three of the 14 charges in the impeachment proceedings against her moved by the ruling UPFA coalition legislators.
The three charges were of financial impropriety based on non-declaration of assets and conflict of interest in a case involving a failed investment company. Bandaranayake denied all the charges against her. On December 6, she stormed out of the impeachment hearing in Parliament, saying she would not be given a fair trial. She also claimed that she faced verbal abuse by the government members of the Parliamentary committee. On Friday, the Parliament voted 155 to 49 to dismiss Bandaranayake, whose recent rulings had gone against the government.
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