The impeachment motion brought against Shirani Bandaranayake was not properly passed in Parliament, says the United National Party expressing its stance on the removal of the country’s first woman Chief Justice by the President today.
“Therefore the President has no legal authority to remove Shirani Bandaranayake from the post or appoint a new Chief Justice,” UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said in a statement.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa this morning signed the removal notice of Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, ratifying parliament’s vote to impeach her.
On 1 January 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the impeachment procedure in Parliament was not constitutionally valid and that the PSC established under the standing order 78(A) was unlawful. The Court of Appeal on January 03 exercising writ jurisdiction then quashed the verdict of the PSC.
Hence it is clear that a legally valid inquiry report against Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake has not been submitted to Parliament still, Attanayake said.
He stated that by violating the constitution the President is destroying the judiciary’s capability to act independently, while “near the doorstep” of the upcoming session of the UN Human Rights Council in March.
Attanayake further claimed that through standing up for his brother: Basil Rajapaksa’s Divi Neguma bill, violating the constitution by attempting to protect him and by removing Shirani Bandaranayake from the post of Chief Justice, President Mahinda Rajapaksa is proving from actions that our country does not have a judiciary that can function independently and that it’s governed by “jungle law”.
