Despite being served notice of removal from the office of Chief Justice, political sources say Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake has no intention of leaving the post and has even called on police to tighten her security.
It is said that she has requested for heightened security, as the “Chief Justice,” in a letter addressed to the Inspector General of Police via her attorneys.
Sources say that Bandaranayake has decided not to vacate her post, as the Supreme Court has already declared the impeachment and its report illegal.
Ada Derana reliably learnt that Shirani Bandaranayake will proceed to sit in the judge bench which is set to hear cases next week.
It is said that Bandaranayake’s name has already been included in the judges registry informing the remainder of the judges that she will serve as the chairperson of the Supreme Court judge bench sitting on January 15 and 17.
According to the proposed judges registry, judges P.A. Ratnayake and S. I. Imam along with Shirani Bandaranayake have been appointed to the chief judge bench that will preside over cases scheduled to be taken up at court 502 on January 15, sources said.
Justice Chandra Ekanayake and Justice Sathya Hettige have been named in addition to Bandaranayake for the Supreme Court judge bench sitting on January 17.
It is also reported that if a new Chief Justice is appointed, several organizations and religious leaders are prepared to file several cases with the Supreme Court challenging the decision.
However, the Parliamentary Council is slated to meet today to appoint a new Chief Justice. After the Chief Justice is removed constitutionally, it is the duty of the Parliamentary Council to recommend a successor to the President.
The name of the new Chief Justice will be proposed by the President to the Parliamentary Council, which in turn will recommend the person and forward it to the President. The President will then approve the name for the post of Chief Justice.
Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa serves as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Counsel while Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne, MP A.H.M. Aswar, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe and MP DM Swaminathan are its members.
