Parliament’s Sectoral Oversight Committee on Governance, Justice and Civil Protection has approved the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution and the Judicature (Amendment) Bills, clearing the last committee stage before a two-day debate that begins on Thursday.
The committee signed off on both Bills at a meeting held on Tuesday (22) under the chairmanship of MP Dr. Najith Indika, the Daily Mirror reported, citing Parliament’s Department of Communication.
Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe, PC attended in person, alongside officials from the Attorney General’s Department, the Ministry of Justice and National Integration, and the Legal Draftsman’s Department. The Attorney General briefed members on the Supreme Court’s determination, which Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne announced to the House on September 22 — the ruling that the Amendment needs only a two-thirds parliamentary majority and no referendum.
The debate is scheduled for September 24 and 25, with the vote expected on Friday.
What the Bills actually change
The stated aims are to expand judicial capacity, improve access to appellate justice outside Colombo, clear the backlog of pending cases, retain experienced judges and strengthen judicial appointments.
The most concrete change is to Article 137 of the Constitution, which would be amended to raise the number of Court of Appeal judges from 19 to 24.
The Bills also provide for regional Courts of Appeal, intended to speed up disposal of cases and spare litigants the journey to Colombo, and for additional Provincial High Courts and Provincial Civil Appellate High Courts.
Provincial High Courts hold original criminal jurisdiction over serious offences, while Civil High Courts have exercised appellate jurisdiction since the 2006 amendments — a structure the committee papers identify as a source of the current backlog.
The Daily Mirror’s account of the committee meeting does not mention the Amendment’s most contested provision — the increase in the retirement age of Supreme Court judges from 65 to 67, and of Court of Appeal judges from 63 to 65, which was in the Bills as gazetted in August and has driven most of the political argument since.
Note on the committee
Chairman Najith Indika’s committee is the same body that has processed the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code amendments this session; approving justice-sector Bills is its routine function, and its near-identically worded past releases are easy to mistake for this one.
Hiru News has previously referred to this committee as the Sectoral Oversight Committee on “Public Administration, Justice and Civil Security.” Parliament’s own register gives the name as Governance, Justice and Civil Protection. It is one committee, not two.
The Bar Association has urged MPs to treat Friday’s vote as a matter of conscience rather than a party whip. Parliament’s own news portal had not published the committee release at the time of writing, and no other verified newsroom had filed on it.
