An exemplary judge and trusted friend is no more
It is with deep sorrow that I record the sudden demise of Justice Amendra Seneviratne who was the sitting Judge of the Commercial High Court at the time of his untimely demise.
The certainty that Justice Seneviratne is a rare category of dedicated judges that the Sri Lankan nation inherited in this decade, is the finer feeling of present day legal luminaries of Sri Lanka.
If not for his sudden demise Justice Seneviratne would have definitely been elevated to the higher judiciary and contributed further to the enrichment of the jurisprudence of SriLanka.
Justice Seneviratne may have inherited the fine judicial values and temperaments that he always demonstrated, from his paternal uncle the late Justice O.S.M. Seneviratne who is another great jurist that the Sri Lankan nation produced during the recent past.
Justice Amendra Seneviratne hailed from Balapitiya, a coastal hamlet in the Southern province that has produced a large number of legal luminaries for the Sri Lankan nation such as late Justice Seneviratne: Sir Francis
After a colourful career as an academic, spread over four decades, Dr Charlotte
Ranasinghe (nee Weerasuriya) passed away on January 20 following a brief illness.
I can still remember the first time I met Charlotte many years ago. Rane, she and I met for morning tea at a wayside café in York Street in the late 1960s when I was working at the nearby Central Bank. The first impression she created in me, of a bright, friendly and professional academic has been etched in my mind ever since. Dr. Ranasinghe graduated from the Ceylon University Peradeniya in 1964 with honours in Geography. Immediately after, she was appointed as an Assistant Lecturer at the university. Two years later, venturing to experience the wider world, she joined the Public Service as an Assessor at the Department of Inland Revenue and later joined the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS).
But the lure of the academic world was too much for Charlotte. In 1968 she left SLAS and joined the Colombo University as an assistant lecturer. Shortly after, she spent the four years, 1969-1973, as a graduate researcher at Cambridge University, UK, and earned a PhD in geography before de Zoysa KC, Sir Lalitha Rajapakse QC, H. Sri Nissanka QC, Sir Cyril de Zoysa QC, A.C. (Bunty) de Zoysa PC and Dr. Colvin R de Silva.
Amendra had his early education at Ananda College, Colombo. Untill his elevation to the judiciary Amendra had been a dedicated and enthusiastic member of the Old Anandians 75-80 Group.
He was a fine judge, trustworthy friend, great lawyer and moreover a great human being.
Dear Amendra, may you attain the supreme bliss of Nirvana.