JVP will not recognise new CJ

The JVP said yesterday that it would not accept the appointment of a new chief justice on the grounds that the impeachment of present Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was unlawful.

The govt. has taken a further step by politicising the judiciary.

Addressing a press conference, JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said that the government acted to impeach the Chief Justice with a two-thirds majority though the procedure adopted in this exercise was interpreted as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Also, he said that the Court of Appeal quashed the findings of the Parliamentary Select Committee

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said yesterday that it would not accept the appointment of a new Chief Justice on the grounds that the impeachment of present Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was unlawful.

(PSC) that probed charges against her.

“In our country, the interpretation of the Constitution is solely and exclusively the province of the Supreme Court. Now, we have learnt that the government is going to appoint a new Chief Justice. It will be an unlawful act. We will not accept it as a party,” he said.

The General Secretary said that the government’s stubborn attitude had eroded the country’s democracy, and diminished the reputation and accountability of the Legislature.

“The enactment of the 18th Amendment is the first step towards dictatorship. Now, the government has taken a further step by politicizing the judiciary. The Chief Justice will only be impeached. Yet, the country has lost democracy,” he said. “It looks like a victory for the government and a defeat for the Chief Justice. We call it a Pyrrhic victory, a victory with disastrous consequences for the winner. In the virtual war between the government and the Judiciary, the Chief Justice lost. Yet, the government literally sustained deadly injuries. It will succumb to those injuries late,” said Tilvin Silva.

A section of the government benchers, he said, had realized the gravity of this situation, but they were ‘spineless’ to stand up against it.

“Another set of members acted like serfs. Serfs were the ones who served their kings during the feudal era,” he said.