The special general meeting of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka was held this morning to discuss the next steps against the government’s plan to extend the retirement age of Supreme Court and Court of Appeal judges.
Nearly 4,000 lawyers participated in the meeting, including Senior Lawyer of the National People’s Power Lal Wijenayake, Lawyer Udaya Gammanpila, President’s Counsel Ali Sabry and many other prominent lawyers.
The President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Attorney-at-Law Rajeev Amarasuriya, speaking to the media after the general meeting, said that the entire legal community unanimously opposed this sudden decision of the government.
He said that the Cabinet meeting chaired by the President on July 27, despite the strong opposition to the extension of the age limit by the Judicial Service Association, the Sri Lanka Bar Association, the President’s Counsel and several political parties, adopted the relevant proposal, and that this government move is highly immoral and a severe attack on the independence of the judiciary.
However, the President of the Bar Association said that he will meet the Minister of Justice at 5.00 pm today to fulfill his duty to the profession and the people and state his strong position.
Speaking further to the media, the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Attorney-at-Law Rajeev Amarasuriya said the following.
“The legal profession is for all, including lawyers and judges. Because judges also started out as lawyers. In fact, judges do not have a voice outside the court. That voice has always been traditionally represented by our Bar Association. At this time, according to our decision, everyone, without exception, is against this short-sighted decision of this government.
As the chairman, I asked the lawyers who were against this, from our council, from our online connection, who was against this, everyone raised their hands. As a democratic institution, we need to hear the voices of all. So I asked who is next in favor of this. Not a single one. There was not a single person in this premises who agreed with this proposal today. This is a really unwise decision that the government has taken. We are taking all necessary steps in this regard. This is a severe blow to the independence of the judiciary.
We are speaking with more strength and energy than before, because until now we have not had the support of the entire legal community. There was no full approval through the Bar Council, we had approval like Parliament. But the entire legal community is telling us at this time that this is completely wrong, unethical, this is really a crime, this is corruption. So this needs to be stopped. When we talk about independence, I think that if the independence of the judiciary is tarnished, if there is any attack on it, it will not only be a problem today or tomorrow, but it will be a long-term problem.
The judges of the Supreme Court will also have to feel uncomfortable with what the government is going to do. Because usually the constitutionality of a bill, an act, the constitutionality of a bill is usually decided by the Supreme Court. But in this case, this government is making them uncomfortable too. Because they will now have to make a decision on this matter. This problem is, they will also get a benefit from extending this retirement age.