RESOLUTION AGAINST BASL CHIEF
U.R. DE SILVA SAYS HE EXPRESSED HIS PERSONAL OPINION
The members of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) are planning to submit a resolution to unseat the BASL President for violating its constitution.
They said BASL President U.R. de Silva PC will have to face a no-confidence motion at the next BASL Executive Committee meeting for allegedly violating Article 9.1 (e) of the BASL constitution.
The BASL members who wished to remain anonymous told Daily Mirror that they were astonished as to how the Bar Association President expressed his personal opinion to the media on the dissolution of Parliament by President Maithripala Sirisena.
“As the President of the Bar Association, voicing his personal views on the dissolution of Parliament by the country’s Executive is a clear violation of the Bar Association constitution. although he claims that it is his personal view, by making such a biased statement he is implicating the BASL as partisan to a political decision without proper authorisation.the statement he made was extremely biased and conveyed a prejudiced attitude. The BASL President must act in all matters in accordance with the direction given to him from time to time by the Council and /or Executive Committee. In the event he violates the constitution, he can be removed from office by passing a resolution,” a senior attorney said.
Article 9.1(e) of the BASL Constitution reads, “the President shall not express either in public or for publication or to any public authority his personal views on any matter pertaining to the objects of the Association set out in Article 2 except with the prior approval of the Executive Committee”.
Article 2 of BASL says, “the objects of the Bar Association as constituted shall include (a) the maintenance of the honour and independence of the Bar of Sri Lanka, the extension of cooperation and support towards the maintenance of the honour and independence of the Judiciary of Sri Lanka……”
Senior lawyers said it was incumbent on a legal luminary of the calibre of U.R. de Silva to be familiar with the Constitution of his own Association. If he is overstepping his own executive powers under his organsation’s constitution, he would be ill-equipped to impartially interpret the country’s constitution on a matter of national executive overreach.
“Both President Maithripala Sirisena and the BASL President, have violated their respective constitutions. When the country’s constitution clearly states the boundaries of the executive discretion to dissolve the legislature, what made De Silva to go public and take a controversial stand? He cannot assert that the Executive is supreme and empowered to take any decision which cannot be challenged in court.the Bar Association President either has not read the country’s constitution or has still failed to understand the literal meaning and legislative intent of the 19th Amendment,” said a member of the BASL executive committee.
However, BASL President U.R. de Silva PC told Daily Mirror that as a professional lawyer and as a President’s Counsel, he can express his personal views as long as he does not do so as the President of the BASL.
“After going through the 19th Amendment very carefully, I made my personal opinion known. The BASL may have different views. I cannot ask all the BASL members to come to Colombo within the next two days and to express their views to make an official announcement. The BASL members may not be happy about what I have expressed. This is my personal opinion. The BASL Constitution does not say that the President cannot make his personal views known on any matter like this,” the BASL President said.
When presented with the relevant clause in Article 9.1(e) of the BASL constitution, De Silva PC said the wording in the particular section that has referred to as ‘personal views’ is not a reference to the BASL President’s personal views but to the BASL official position.
“If the Bar Association President cannot express a personal opinion, then how can I practice in courts? I will then not be able to air my personal views when I appear in cases.