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| Tuesday, 24 June 2003 |
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by Wasantha Ramanayake TheElections Commissioner was the only person in the world who was prevented from retiring from his office by the Constitution even after reaching the age of retirement, Elmore Perera, counsel for the Election Commissioner, submitted before the Supreme Court, supporting a Fundamental Rights Application filed by the Elections Commissioner. The Counsel submitted that he should have to remain as the Commissioner until the Elections Commission is constituted and there will be a constitutional crisis in case of his death, since there was no provision in the Constitution to appoint a new commissioner. The Bench comprised Justices Dr.(Mrs.) Shirani Bandaranayake, Asoka de Silva and Nihal Jayasinghe. The court issued notice on the Attorney General, returnable on July 1. The Counsel submitted that no one was authorised to appoint the Elections Commissioner and such elementary matters that had been there earlier, were not taken into consideration when drafting the 17th Amendment. Counsel stated that his client could not leave his office since various allegations could be levelled at him. He submitted that his client had not tendered his retirement papers when the court queried as to whether his client had done so at least for testing. His client could not resort to such means, since the Constitution had not provided for. He also said that respondents were the only persons who could have given a solution by way of a Constitutional amendment. Petitioner complained that his Fundamental Rights were violated by the failure of the President to appoint an Elections Commission on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council, preventing him from retiring from his highly stressful office at the age of 61. He claimed that he had five heart attacks. He also claimed ten million rupees as compensation. He cited Attorney General, Secretary to the President, Speaker and the Chairman of the Constitutional Council, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse, H.L. de Silva PC, Dr. A.R.B. Amarasinghe, L.H.G. Weerasekera, M. Jameel, P. Sundaralingam, R. C. Karunakaran and S.S. Wijeratne, the members of the Constitutional Council, as respondents. The petitioner stated inter alia, that he was 61 years old and joined the Public Service on January 2, 1970. He served continuously in the Department of Elections since February 17, 1995 and carried out his duties with strict independence. Petitioner claimed that he sought a clarification from the first respondent, the Attorney General of his retirement when he reached 60 years on April 28, 2002. He was notified that he would have to remain in office until the Elections Commission was constituted. According to the petition the petitioner shall cease to hold the office as the Commissioner of Elections once the Elections Commission was established under the 17th Amendment in terms of Article 103 of the Constitution. |
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