Superior courts vacancies now stand at 7; fears of case backlog mount

The number of vacancies in the superior courts has risen to seven, hampering their functions.

There are two vacancies in the Supreme Court and five in the Court of Appeal. All the vacancies have been created by retirement of judges.

Filling the vacancies has become problematic owing to the deadlock between President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Constitutional Council (CC) over the proposed appointment of the President of the Court of Appeal Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne to the Supreme Court. The CC has so far rejected the recommendation made by President Wickremesinghe to appoint Justice Karunaratne to the Supreme Court.

The shortage of judges is felt most in the Court of Appeal. Owing to its five vacancies, two of the court’s benches do not function, raising concerns over a backlog of cases.

High Court Judges and Deputy Solicitors General at the Attorney General’s Department are qualified to be appointed to the superior courts.

The two positions in the Supreme Court fell vacant with the retirement of Justice Buwaneka Aluwihare in January and Priyantha Jayawardena in February. In the Court of Appeal, Justices Prasanna Silva, Lakshman Keerthisinghe, Neil Iddawala, Khema Swarnadhipathi and D.M. Samarakoon have retired. Justice Iddawala had retired to take up the post of Chairman of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption. The others had retired after reaching retirement age.

Another vacancy is due to be created in the Court of Appeal in October this year with the retirement of Justice Vikum Kaluarachchi.