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| Monday, 27 September 2004 |
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by Sarath Malalasekera 'Over the years we have taken concerted action to improve not only the infrastructure of the system of the administration of justice but also to build up the capacity of the Judicial officers and of court staff,' said Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva PC addressing the launching of the "Equal Access to Justice Project." at the BMICH on Friday. Constitutional and Law Reforms Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera, UNDP Resident Representative Miguel Bermeo, Inspector General of Police Indra de Silva, Bar Association of Sri Lanka President Iqram Mohamed, Ministry Secretary Ms. Malkanthi Wickremasinghe, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Commissioner General of Prisons Rumi Marsook and Chairman Legal Aid Commission Hemantha Warnakulasuriya were present. "We are now in the process of modernising courts with the introduction of Automated Case Management Systems in selected courts. Much of this work has been done by the Legal and Judicial Reforms Project (LJRP) which too was formulated mainly by Ms. Thusitha Pilapitiya, then in a different capacity and I have had the privilege of being associated with that Project gromits very inception, more than six years ago," the Chief Justice said. The Chief Justice emphasised that this project has a different dimension from that of the LJRP. Through the LJRP and the useful work of the Ministry of Justice we have improved the infrastructure facilities, capacity of officials and the management systems of our courts. The efforts made by us with a wide reach spanning the whole country have received considerable public attention. The Chief Justice said : "I consider it an honour to be invited to be present on this important occasion when the "Equal Access to Justice Project" of the UNDP is being launched. I am aware that this Project has been carefully planned by the UNDP after several years of preparatory work and I must commend the Resident Representative Mr. Miguel Bermeo and Ms. Thusitha Pilapitiya Programme Officer, for finalizing the Project and making it a reality today" the Chief Justice said: Suffice it to state, that those efforts have been geared to improve our system from within. This Project has a dimension which deals with our system from an external perspective. We may have magnificent court buildings and competent and efficient officials and automated Case Management Systems, but, if the People who should be the ultimate beneficiaries of our system, are not made aware of their legal rights and obligations and the manner in which they could be properly secured or enforced by the judicial process and thereby sufficiently empowered to derive the full benefit to the equal protection of the law guaranteed to them by the Constitution, our magnificent buildings and systems would be of little avail. Only the economically advantaged groups would then derive the benefit of our system. That is presently happening in the very efficient Commercial Courts that we have established. Whilst, the improvements of Commercial Courts and what I may call high value litigation requires our full attention, we have to be at the sametime mindful of the disadvantaged groups who find access to our system difficult and barred by barriers that are sometimes impossible to surmount. The thrust of this project is to address that aspect and if I may describe it in simpler terms to humanise our system of administration of justice, to give it a kinder and compassionate outlook so that disadvantaged groups and persons who are marginalised could derive the benefit. In this context I wish to read to you a poem from the collection of Indian poems by the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, contained in the book titled "Gitanjali". The verse reads as follows : "The child who is decked with prince's robes and who has jewelled chains round his neck loses all pleasure in his play; his dress hampers him at every step. In fear that it may be frayed, or stained with dust he keeps himself from the world, and is afraid even to move. Mother, it is no gain thy bondage of finery, if it keep one shut off from the healthful dust of the earth, if it rob one of the right of entrance to the great fair of common human life." Tagore, in this poem speaks of a child who is decked with prince's, robes, jewelled chains and thereby removed from what he describes as "the great fair of common human life". The clear message in this beautiful poem is that we should always be a part of common human life and not by cloistered in the grandeur of a citadel. It is in this frame of mind that I commend the noble project being launched today. As I have repeatedly said we have made great progress in establishing magnificent and well equipped court houses, but we cannot be removed from the "healthful dust of the earth" and "the great fair of common human life." The project should finally achieve a system where our Judges, lawyers and officials should relate to the person who seek justice from our system in a spirit of oneness and not one of isolation and superiority. We should learn to reach out to the People who come in quest of justice and not to permit them to languish outside our doors in despair and frustration of being denied of what they rightfully perceive as being lawfully due to them, the Chief Justice added. "Before I conclude I have to however descend from the high moral note to a stance of pragmatic significance. The Project proposal categorises two groups, one identified as "claim holders" and the other as "duty holders". I have to with due respect depart from this categorization. The course of administration of justice is a two way process. One should never be elevated to that of a "claim holder" holder and the other brought to the level simply of a person who perform duties. They should all be common stake holders in the process of achieving justice. The persons who seek redress from our system should be ever mindful of Article 28 of our Constitution which reads as follows. "The exercise and enjoyment of rights and freedoms is inseperable from the performance of duties and obligations,". Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva said. The Chief Justice said the article goes on to identify the duties of every person in Sri lanka and one very important duty which appears at sub section (e) is to "respect the rights and freedoms of others. Those who seek redress from our system should ever be mindful that they have to, in order to derive full and equitable redress, respect the freedoms and rights of others. Therefore I would respectfully request that this aspect be incorporated in implementing this project and to make the project a common endeavour of achieving justice and the equal protection of law for every person as guaranteed by our Constitution," he said. |
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