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Systemic Crisis: It is not Over Sumanasiri Liyanage There is an unusual and unexpected calmness in Hultsdorf in the post-impeachment days in spite of the fact that all traditions and conventions were put aside in the appointment of the new Chief Justice in place of Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake. At the time of appointment as the CJ, Mr Mohan Pieris was a director of many private companies and the legal advisor to the Cabinet. Previously, of course with rare exceptions, it was either a most senior Supreme Court Judge or the Attorney General who was appointed by the President as the CJ. The present appointment is totally outside the legal system. This is somewhat a hilarious occurrence. Previously, a retired CJ was appointed as an advisor to the President; this time a legal advisor was promoted to the position of CJ. Karl Marx would have added, first time as a tragedy and second time as a farce. The system of making CJ after retirement political was replaced now by pre-CJ political...

Living in a state of exception January 11, 2013, 12:00 pm   By Sumanasiri Liyanage Many legal luminaries have expressed their views on the controversial decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Sri Lanka on the Parliament’s right over the impeachment of judges of the Superior Courts, the Supreme Courts and the Court of Appeal. On the basis of the Supreme Court decisions, the court of appeal has given an order to quash the Parliamentary Select Committee report that was given to the Speaker of the Parliament that has led to a constitutional deadlock. The Article 125 (1) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka says: "The Supreme Court shall have sole and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any question relating to the interpretation of the Constitution." Hence, the argument is that the Parliament should abide by the decision of the appeal court not to proceed further on the impeachment process. The legal experts have opposite views on the subject. Former Profe...