Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has accused the government of setting out to disable the judiciary, sharpening the language he has used against the 22nd Amendment as the bill moves through its formal stages.
Speaking at a gathering in Galle on Wednesday, Premadasa said the amendment would weaken the judiciary.
“The Government is trying to disable the Judiciary and then create a dictatorship,” he said.
The Daily Mirror report of the remarks did not carry a government response, and LankaNewz has not independently verified the claim.
The amendment at issue
The 22nd Amendment was gazetted on August 7, raising the retirement age of Supreme Court judges to 67, alongside a separate bill enlarging the High Court bench. The Cabinet approved the bill on August 4.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told a Bar Association delegation on Wednesday that the change was made in the national interest and not aimed at any individual. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has taken the position that the amendment requires approval at a referendum because it touches judicial independence, and the joint opposition has said it will challenge the bill before a full bench of the Supreme Court.
The proposal has also drawn objections from outside the political arena. The country’s Chief Prelates wrote to the President opposing it, and a United Nations special rapporteur has written to the government raising concerns about the change.
A repeated line
Wednesday’s remarks extend a theme Premadasa has pressed for weeks. At a Ruwanwella party event on August 9 he warned that extending judges’ tenure could be a step towards one-party rule and questioned why the measure had become a national priority ahead of the economy, agriculture and the prison system.
