Sri Lankan Top Judge Faces Impeachment Proceedings - Friday Nov 23,2012

Sri Lankan parliamentary panel on Nov 23,2011 Friday began impeachment motion proceedings against the country’s first woman chief justice Shirani Bandaranayake, who is facing 14 charges of personal and professional misconduct.

The 11-member Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) put off the further proceedings after 54-year-old Bandaranayake appeared before it.

Shirani Bandaranayake and her team of lawyers presented before the PSC which comprises 11 government MPs and four opposition MPs.

Shirani Bandaranayake became the island’s first ever woman Supreme Court judge in 1996 before being appointed chief justice in 2011

Sri Lankan Parliament Recommends Dismissal of Chief Justice 

A parliamentary panel in Sri Lanka on Saturday Dec 8,2012 recommended the dismissal of the country’s chief justice, after finding her guilty on three offences including financial irregularities .

The 11-member committee concluded its report against Chief Justice by finding her guilty of -

1)failing to declare her earnings

2)of hearing a case in which she had an interestand 

3)of continuing to hold the position of chief justice while a case against her husband was pending

 

 

Sri Lanka's 1st woman Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake sacked 

 

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Jan 13,2013 Sunday sacked the country’s first woman Chief Justice Shirani Bandarnayake after ratifying her impeachment by Parliament which held her guilty of corruption, notwithstanding widespread protests by lawyers and others.

On Friday Jan 11,2013, Sri Lankan Parliament voted 155 to 49 to dismiss Bandaranayake, whose recent rulings had gone against the government.

The impeachment of the Chief Justice went ahead despite calls by rights groups, citizens, clergy and lawyers who asked the government not to do so. 

The Parliamentary committee on December 8, 2012, had ruled that Bandaranayake was guilty of three of the 14 charges in the impeachment proceedings against her moved by the ruling UPFA coalition legislators. 

The three charges were of financial impropriety based on non-declaration of assets and conflict of interest in a case involving a failed investment company. 

Bandaranayake denied all the charges against her. On December 6, she stormed out of the impeachment hearing in Parliament, saying she would not be given a fair trial.