The rule of law in Sri Lanka which is in abysmal decay, suffered a further major set back when the President of Sri Lanka acted as if he is more supreme than the Constitution, by making three appointments to the highest courts ignoring the Constitutional provisions which must have prevented him from doing so. This follows three similar appointments to The Public Service Commission, The National Police Commission and The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. The appointments to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court were made yesterday on, May 26, 2006.
The President violated the supreme law of the country, which is the Constitution, by making direct appointments superceding The Judicial Service Commission by arbitrarily appointing a judge to the Supreme Court and two judges to the Court of Appeal. Earlier this year, two members of the Judicial Service Commission had resigned from the Commission, and the vacancies are yet to be filled. The Constitution of Sri Lanka requires that the members to the Judicial Service Commission be selected by the Constitutional Council. According to the Constitution of Sri Lanka, it is for the Judicial Service Commission to make the selection of judges to these courts and for the President to appoint only on the basis of such selections.
The present appointments will further deteriorate the public confidence in the judiciary and this seems to be an objective that the Executive President is pursuing deliberately. In many previous statements the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has pointed out that the concept of power of the Executive President as practiced in Sri Lanka is absolute and is incompatible with the recognition of a truly independent judiciary. As of to day, the power of the President is supreme and there is no other branch of the state that is allowed to challenge it.
The AHRC is neither surprised nor shocked by such absolute abuse of power by the Executive President but only worries for the future of the people of Sri Lanka under these circumstances. To the regret of the AHRC all its predictions on this issue have come to pass.
Diminishing the value of courts before the people and to reduce their power has been one of the strategies to sustain an authoritarian system ever since the Executive Presidency was created in 1978. Since then, the judiciary was undermined so thoroughly that it remains a crumbled institution under this authoritarianism. However, this is the first occasion in which the Executive President has acted completely outside his Constitutional power to make appointments.
The non-constitutional appointments to the highest courts creates a serious contradiction to the citizens and the lawyers who are to approach these courts in order to canvas issues relating to the Constitution, including human rights recognized under the Constitution.
For earlier statements of the violations of the 17th amendment to the Constitution kindly see FS-013-2006, AS-119-2006, AS-113-2006, FS-010-2006, AS-109-2006, AS-102-2006, AS-073-2006, AS-065-2006, FS-005-2006, FS-004-2006, AS-063-2006.
