Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) President Rajeev Amarasuriya has addressed the High Court of Bhutan during the first visit by a BASL delegation to the kingdom, as the two countries’ legal professions moved to formalise cooperation on the administration of justice.
Amarasuriya spoke before the Superior Bench of the High Court, made up of eight justices and presided over by Chief Justice Duba Drukpa, Daily Mirror reported.
What was said
Welcoming the delegation, the Chief Justice described the visit as an opportunity to strengthen ties between the two legal communities, and said the Bench and the Bar were two branches of the same profession united by a common pursuit of justice, requiring mutual respect, professional integrity and a shared commitment to the Rule of Law.
Amarasuriya said the visit marked a new chapter in relations between the two professions. While Bhutan and Sri Lanka had followed different historical and constitutional paths, he said, they remained linked as South Asian nations, SAARC members and countries of the Global South with a shared spiritual and cultural heritage.
Referring to Bhutan’s philosophy of Gross National Happiness, he said the country had demonstrated that development must ultimately focus on people, and that the same principle should guide the administration of justice — courts and lawyers carrying a broader responsibility to protect human dignity, resolve disputes peacefully, restrain arbitrary exercises of power and safeguard rights.
On the relationship between judges and lawyers, Amarasuriya said the two had different functions but were partners in a common endeavour, and that judicial independence and the independence of the legal profession were “not privileges belonging to judges or lawyers, but safeguards that ultimately belong to the people.”
He identified legal education, continuing professional development, opportunities for young lawyers, constitutional and public law, technology, court administration and institutional exchanges as areas for cooperation.
Bilateral meeting and Joint Bar Statement
The High Court engagement followed the first bilateral meeting between the BASL and the Bar Council of Bhutan, which produced a Joint Bar Statement covering justice, the Rule of Law, professional integrity, the administration of justice and the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession.
The delegation also met Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Bhutan Lyonpo Norbu Tshering and Attorney General Sonam Tashi.
Context
The visit follows the BASL’s engagement with the Indian judiciary, where former Indian Chief Justice B.R. Gavai told the association an independent Bar is a constitutional necessity in May.
It also comes while the association is heavily engaged in a domestic dispute over judicial independence at home. The BASL has opposed moves to extend the retirement age of superior court judges, and is due to brief MPs on the 22nd Constitutional Amendment and unfilled judicial vacancies after Parliament divided over the request. Daily Mirror did not link the Bhutan remarks to that dispute.
