Opposition MP Dayasiri Jayasekera has questioned President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s decision to hold a series of rallies from 5 September, suggesting the campaign may be preparation for a referendum on the 22nd Amendment.
“We question why this series of rallies is being held. Perhaps the President is fully aware of the situation regarding the 22nd Amendment,” Jayasekera told journalists, the Daily Mirror reported.
He also said the President could instead consider appointing judges to fill the existing vacancies on the Supreme Court.
The MP asking the question is also asking the court
Jayasekera’s framing is not neutral speculation. He is himself a petitioner against the amendment: his constitutional petition asks the Supreme Court to determine whether the Bill, or specifically its Clause 2, touches matters protected by Article 83 and therefore requires approval at a referendum on top of a two-thirds parliamentary majority, according to Daily FT’s report of the filing.
That petition argues the Bill contains no transitional provision excluding judges already serving, potentially allowing the tenure of incumbents to be extended, and that judicial independence forms part of the constitutional protection of the sovereignty of the people under Article 3 read with Article 4(c).
The 22nd Amendment would raise the retirement age of Supreme Court judges from 65 to 67 and Court of Appeal judges from 63 to 65.
His remarks therefore read less as a prediction than as a claim that the government expects to lose the point he has put to the court — a reading the Daily Mirror did not draw, and one the report does not evidence.
The government has already said it is ready
The suggestion is not one the government disputes in principle. Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa has said the government is prepared to hold a referendum if the Supreme Court determines one is required, as Daily FT reported earlier this month.
On Saturday, Jayatissa placed the parliamentary debate on the Bill at the end of September or early October — the same window into which he has now placed three separate stages of the Bill’s passage. The rallies Jayasekera is questioning begin on 5 September, before that window opens.
The Bill was presented to Parliament on 18 August by Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara, and petitions both challenging and supporting it have since been filed. The Bar Association has separately asked the Chief Justice to constitute a full bench, arguing every sitting Supreme Court judge has a direct interest in the outcome.
President Dissanayake has defended the amendment as a measure to speed up justice and said the decision would not be reversed.
The Daily Mirror did not report where the rallies will be held, what the government says their purpose is, or any response from the President’s office. No other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had carried Jayasekera’s remarks at the time of writing.
