The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has written to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake requesting that no proposed constitutional amendment be taken forward with the aim of extending the retirement age of members of the judiciary, including the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.
The association points out that it is deeply concerned about reports that the government is considering amending the Constitution to extend the retirement age of judges serving in the country’s highest courts.
Since the promulgation of the 1978 Constitution, the retirement age of judges of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court has been fixed at 63 and 65 years respectively, and the association states that it should not be arbitrarily changed.
The association points out that such an amendment could undermine the public’s trust in the judiciary and the government’s commitment to protecting the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. Furthermore, the association says that the number of judges in both high courts has already been significantly increased by the 20th Constitutional Amendment in 2020.
Accordingly, the bench of the Court of Appeal has been increased from 12 to 20 judges and the bench of the Supreme Court from 11 to 17 judges. The association says that the capacity of the courts has been sufficiently strengthened by this increase in the number of members and therefore, it does not believe that there is any need based on the need for service to extend the retirement age of judges