Sri Lankan president defies Supreme Court ruling to remove chief justice

PRESIDENT Mahinda Rajapaksa has removed Sri Lanka’s chief justice from office with immediate effect, defying a ­Supreme Court ruling that the impeachment process was ­illegal and setting the stage for a possible constitutional crisis.

Rajapaksa’s ruling party voted to impeach Shirani Bandaranayake, Sri Lanka’s first female chief justice, on Friday.

The move has caused an ­outcry among opposition MPs, religious leaders and lawyers, prompted the United States and United Nations to voice concern for the integrity of justice in the island state.

“The president has said in the removal statement that he was in agreement with the ­request for the removal of the chief ­justice from office made in the said address of parliament,” ­Rajapaksa’s office said in a ­statement yesterday.

Bandaranayake’s lawyers confirmed that she had been notified of her dismissal, but ­declined to say if she would leave office.

The Court of Appeal has also nullified the ruling of a ­parliamentary panel which found Bandaranayake guilty 
of financial irregularities and failure to declare assets.

Lawyers Collective, a judiciary activist group, has urged all Supreme Court judges not to accept Rajapaksa’s appointment of a new or acting chief justice.

“The politically motivated process of removal of the chief justice was nothing but a misuse and abuse of constitutional provisions and Standing Orders,” the group said in a statement.