A letter signed by opposition Members of Parliament was handed to Speaker of Parliament Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne on Friday, asking him to bring the delay in filling vacant Supreme Court positions to the attention of the President.
The letter, submitted in Parliament, requests the Speaker — in his capacity as Chairman of the Constitutional Council — to press the President to act on the existing vacancies and “safeguard the independence of the judiciary,” Ada Derana reported. The number of vacancies and the list of signatories were not specified in the announcement.
The Constitutional Council is the gatekeeper for senior judicial and oversight appointments under the 19th and 21st constitutional amendments. The Speaker chairs the Council, which approves the President’s nominees to the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the Judicial Services Commission and a string of independent commissions.
The opposition letter comes against the backdrop of escalating executive-judiciary friction this cycle. Earlier opposition leaders had written separately to the Chief Justice on judicial independence and tabled a motion in Parliament for a debate on the judiciary. The BASL withdrew from the bench during May Day exchanges over judicial appointments and is currently pressing for a Supreme Court judges’ retirement age amendment. The Suresh Sallay PTA detention has drawn parallel SJB and UNP procedural challenges in court.
Source: Ada Derana.
