The government has no authority over and no involvement in the transfer, discipline or decisions of judicial officers, Minister of Justice Harshana Nanayakkara said on Saturday, responding to questions about the removal of the Gampaha Magistrate.
Those matters fall entirely within the purview of the independent Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the Minister said in answer to media queries, the Daily Mirror reported.
On the transfers
Asked about concerns raised over the transfers of certain magistrates, including the Gampaha Magistrate, Nanayakkara said judicial officers are moved periodically under an established chronological process run by the JSC.
The government neither carries out those transfers nor has access to the Commission’s internal reasons for making them, he said.
On the IGP’s complaint
The Minister was also asked about the complaint the Inspector General of Police lodged over certain judicial decisions. He confirmed that a written complaint had been submitted to the JSC.
The matter would be examined independently, he said, adding that neither he nor the government would interfere in the process or comment on the merits of judicial proceedings.
Why this was asked
The questions follow a sequence this desk reported on Friday. Gampaha Magistrate Bandula Gunaratne had asked the President of the Court of Appeal to open contempt proceedings against the IGP over an alleged failure to comply with a court order; the IGP then complained about the magistrate to the JSC; the Commission called for the magistrate’s observations; and the transfer order was issued shortly after he submitted them. Gunaratne was moved to the Judges’ Training Institute and Kosala Senadheera named Chief Magistrate of Gampaha, due to take up duties on Monday.
The underlying order, covered here on 21 October, required the IGP to issue a service-wide circular instructing officers not to bring baseless proceedings against members of the public.
No filing asserts a causal link between the IGP’s complaint and the transfer, and neither does this desk. What the Minister has added is the government’s position on the question that sequence raised — that the decision was the Commission’s alone — and confirmation that the complaint against the magistrate is on the record in writing.
This account rests on a single newsroom. A search of other verified Sri Lankan outlets found same-day coverage of the transfer itself, but none carrying the Minister’s remarks.
