Kalinga to run for BASL presidency
President’s Counsel Kalinga Indatissa has declared his intentions to contest the post of President, Bar Association of Sri Lanka, at the election scheduled to be held in February next year.
Kalinga Nandaka Indatissa had his early education at St. Mary’s College, Kegalle and at Royal College, Colombo. After passing his Advanced Level Examination, he joined the Sri Lanka Law College in 1982 at the relatively young age of 17 years. At the Law College he excelled in his academic studies and secured 1st Class Honours passes at the Preliminary Year Examination and at the Final Examination.
He was the only student who secured a 1st Class Honours Pass at the April 1985 Examination and was placed 1st in order of merit. In 1984 he was awarded the Sir Cyril de Zoysa Gold Medal for being the runner up of the address to the Jury competition.
Having passed his final examination at the Law College, Mr. Indatissa devilled in the Chambers of Eardley Perera, PC, Tivanka Wickramasinghe, PC and D.S. Wijesinghe, PC. He was admitted to the Bar in May 1986. After a short career in the unofficial Bar, he joined the Attorney General’s Department as a State Counsel in January 1987 and served mainly in the civil branch, appearing in many original and appellate courts in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Indatissa was attached to the staff of the Sri Lanka Law College since 1986. He began his teaching career as a tutor in Criminal Law. Later on he lectured in subjects such as Conflict of Laws, Administrative Law, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure-1 and 2 and Law of Evidence.
He has also been a visiting lecturer at the Surveyors Institute in Diyatalawa, the Ceylon Hotel School and the Police Higher Training Institute.
In 1991, Mr. Indatissa resigned from the Attorney General’s Department and joined the unofficial Bar. Since then he has developed a lucrative practice mainly in criminal law, intellectual property, customs related matters, exchange control violations, computer crimes and sports law. He has also produced many juniors some of whom have joined the judiciary, the Attorney General’s Department, the Army, Navy and many private sector organisations.
From his early days at the Bar, Mr. Indatissa was actively involved in the activities of the Bar and the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. He functioned as the Convenor of the Junior Bar Committee in 1988 and 1989, and as its chairman in 1989, 1997-1998, 2001 and 2006. A member of the Colombo Law Society Committee from 1990-1993, he became its editor in 1991.
He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Bar Association in 1991, 1994-1997 and 2001. He was elected as the Chairman of the Law Asia Young Lawyers Group in 1993 and was a member of the Law Asia Council in 2002-2003. He was elected Secretary of the Bar Association for 2003-2004.
Mr. Indatissa has also held public office on many occasions. He functioned as a member of the Central Environmental Authority from 1994-2000 and was a trustee of the Mahapola Higher Educational Trust Fund from 1994 to 1996. He was also the Advisor to the Mahapola Professionals Organisation from 1993 to 1995. In 2002 to 2003 he functioned as the senior consultant to the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs, and during this period, he was also an advisor to the Ministry of Interior. From 2004 to 2006, he was the Secretary of the Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka.
In May 2010, he was appointed as a member of the Interim Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket and served until June 2011. He was also appointed as a Director of Sri Lanka Telecom PLC in May 2010.
Mr. Indatissa has also developed a career in foreign jurisdictions. In 1999, Mr. Indatissa appeared in Monaco, France at an arbitration held by the International Athletics Association and successfully defended Susanthika Jayasinghe enabling her to participate at the Olympics in Sydney where she won the Bronze Medal. He also defended Arjuna Ranatunga at a match fixing inquiry conducted by the ICC and represented the former National Captain as junior counsel to S.L. Gunasekera. In 2011, he defended Manju Wanniarachchi in New Delhi and later at arbitration in Malaysia. Mr. Indatissa also appeared in the Commission appointed to inquire into the killing of General Denzil Kobbekaduwa and the commission appointed to look into the killing of Lalith Athulathmudali. At present, he is the Lead Counsel for former Sri Lankan Cricket Captain Sanath Jayasuriya with regard to a pending ICC inquiry.
A prolific writer, he has made a valuable contribution to Sri Lanka’s legal literature. He has written many articles to the newspapers and law journals and has authored 46 books on many legal topics. His books on Civil Procedure, Bail, Criminal Law, Electronic Transactions, Computer Crimes, Law of Injunctions, Drafting and Supreme Court Rules are much sought after.
In recognition of his contribution to legal education and the legal profession in Sri Lanka, in August 2018, he received the National Award for the “Sustainable Development Goals Role Model Leader” presented by the Sri Lanka United Nations Friendship Organisation.