Seven distinguished Inner Bar members remembered

Sarath MALALASEKERA

The Bench and the Bar paid tribute to seven distinguished members of the Inner Bar at a reference at a special ceremonial sitting of the Supreme Court.

Addressing the gathering including the close family members of the late seven members of the Inner Bar the BASL President, Nihal Jayamanne PC said “We are assembled here to pay tribute to the memory of seven legal luminaries who contributed to the legal system with great distinction.

They are former Attorney General K.C. Kamalasabeyson, PC, Queen’s Counsel Vernon Wijetunga, President’s Counsel T.B. Dissanayake, President’s Counsel Paul Perera, President’s Counsel Upawansa Yapa, President’s Counsel Anil Obeysekera and President’s Counsel Stanley Tillekeratne.

The BASL President, President’s Counsel Nihal Jayamanne said: K.C. Kamalasabeyson PC, was born in Trincomalee, had his education at S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia and died at the age of 57 in 2007, just after retiring as the Attorney General of this Country.

He was the Attorney General for eight years. The country’s Attorney General has a special place in the Constitution of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. It is the Attorney General who traditionally presides over the proceedings of the annual convocation and inducts each year the newly elected President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka.

Kamalasabeyson presided over eight such convocations. I myself had the honour of having been inducted in 2006 and 2007. Friendship I had with Kamal goes back 40 years. It started at Law College where we were both studying to be Advocates.

He was junior to me. I passed out in 1970 and he was in the last Batch of Advocates who passed out, before the fusion of the profession. In 1969 I contested the post of President of the Law Students’ Union and Kamal worked for me as did all the law students at that time from Trincomalee.

I won that election against N.R. Fernando, now Dr. Ranjith Fernando, a leading lawyer in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

We pay homage to Kamalasabeyson.

Vernon Christopher Perera Abeysekera Wijetunga, QC

Vernon Christopher Perera Abeysekera Wijetunga was born on September sixth, 1920 and he died on December 28, 2006. With his death an era closed. He was the last of the Queen’s Counsel.

We remember Vernon Wijetunga for his skills as an Advocate, his skills of cross examination and his deep melodious voice. He was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1968 thereafter no Queen’s Counsel were appointed.

As a young lawyer in 1970 I used to admire him for his elegance and style of advocacy. He was a handsome man.

Vernon Wijetunga QC was not only a lawyer he was a man of many spheres - he read widely and delved deeply into art and culture, the history of our country, its fauna and flora. His library is a treasure house of books on India and Ceylon both ancient and contemporary.

I visited his library a month ago and was stunned into a state of amazement at the wide spectrum of knowledge and interests that was stacked in the racks, rising to the ceiling from the floor. We have lost an Advocate - a man of many parts - a man from whom our younger generation could have learnt what life is all about.

Vernon Wijetunga, QC was a rich man in every sense of the word.

Tikiri Banda Dissanayake, PC

Tikiri Banda Dissanayake was born on July 17, 1908 and received his education at Dharmaraja College, Kandy and at Nalanda College, Colombo.

He obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Sri Lanka and was a teacher at Nalanda College for almost 10 years.

He was appointed a silk in 1983. He was over 90 years old when he died.

He was also fortunate to be in good health till the very last. He drove his car, he played tennis and he even occasionally appeared in Court until a few months before his death.

I remember him coming to the Law Commission driving his car in 2003 and proposing amendments to the Buddhist Ecclesiastical Law. I was privileged to know him as a friend.

We are proud that he was a member of our profession.

Paul Perera, PC

Paul Perera was born in Negombo in 1929, and educated in Negombo at Maris Stella College. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History with Honours.

Perera joined the Government Service. While in Government Service he won a scholarship to study law. He took oaths as an Advocate in 1960 - and was a legal officer of the Ports (Cargo) Corporation. He began practising Law in 1967.

He gradually built up a lucrative practice in Colombo. But his first love was Politics and this love was nurtured and groomed by J.R. Jayewardene. He lived just a few yards away from J.R’s residence at Ward Place. His loyalty to J.R. was immense. He was appointed the Competent Authority of Times of Ceylon in 1977, a Director of the Bank of Ceylon and of the GCEC (now BoI) and later succeeded Upali Wijewardena in 1982 as its Director General. He entered Parliament in 1983, was Minister of Justice in 1988 and the Minister of Science and Technology in 1989 and Minister of Land in 1993. He was in the very centre of UNP politics. He was a master strategist in election campaigns. And was dreaded by his opponents.

Upawansa Yapa, PC

Upawansa Yapa was a President’s Counsel and a former Solicitor General of this country.

He had his early education in Bandarawela and his secondary education at Nalanda Vidyalaya, Colombo. Yapa entered the University of Ceylon in 1960 where he obtained an Arts Degree. In 1965, he joined the Ceylon Law College.

He was admitted as an Advocate of the Supreme Court on February 2, 1969. He joined the Attorney General’s Department as a Crown Counsel and rose to be the Solicitor General of Sri Lanka.

He took his oath as a President’s Counsel on October 12, 1992, and appeared for the State in several sensational criminal trials and appeals, including the Sepala Ekanayake aircraft high-jacking case, Kollupitiya Tavern Robbery Case, Ampara ASP Murder Case and famous Mannar Mannan case.

Yapa was a decent man who had a fetish for discipline. Hidden behind a genial smile was a man of strength of character who fearlessly fought injustice. Upawansa was a strict disciplinarian. This is what we lack today, Discipline and dedication. He was just one year senior to me at the Bar. I knew him as a Voet Inner. I myself was not of the Inn, but was a frequent visitor there. What a great place the Barnes Place Mansion was. Upawansa was for a long time the sub warden of the Voet Inn hostel.

He loved music, art and nature and never sought cheap popularity.

Today we honour a gentleman par excellence.

Anil Jayantha Obeysekere, PC

Anil Jayantha Obeysekere was born on May 18, 1938. He had his early education at St. Thomas’ Prep School and S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia where he represented the College in debating and was the Secretary of the English Literary Association.

He thereafter joined the Ceylon Law College in 1959 and passed out as an Advocate of the Supreme Court in 1962. He devilled in the Chambers of the late Sam Kadiragama, QC and in the Chambers of late Siri Perera, QC. Obeysekere belongs to a family which has a legal background for over 100 years. His grandfather, the late D.C.F. Obeysekere, was a leading Proctor of the Galle Bar, who became the Crown Proctor of Galle in 1908. His father, the late J.E.M. Obeysekere, Barrister-at-Law (Grays Inn) and one time Deputy Solicitor General, commanded a lucrative practice at the unofficial bar at the time of his demise at the young age of 46.

Anil Obeysekere practised in the original Courts where he built up a lucrative practice. He has appeared in many sensational criminal trials.

He was conferred silk in 1995 the same year I was. With this appointment as President’s Counsel, he, along with his elder brother, R.I. Obeysekere PC, became the seventh pair of brothers in the history of Hulftsdorp to have taken ‘silk.’

Obeysekere functioned as the Trade Commissioner in Czechoslovakia from 1973-1977.

He also functioned as the Chairman of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation from 1994-2001, as the Chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom from 2004-2006 and was a member of the Council of Legal Education and Chairman of Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd at the time of his death in February 2007.

Stanley Tillekeratne, PC

Stanley Tillekeratne PC was a genuinely volatile leftist. He attracted attention to himself wherever he was. He was an exceedingly energetic man - and his energy was infective and roused everyone else around him also to action. A short but strong man he was a good friend - an extremely amiable politician - a very rare breed.

Stanley Tillekeratne I knew when I was a law student. My father appeared for him in his Election Petition in the late 1960’s against his arch rival Jinadasa Niyathapala of Kotte.

I still remember his instructing Attorney Proctor Rustomjee - going red in his face and tearing profusely after eating very hot devilled prawns at a consultation had in my father’s chambers. Stanley won the case and retained his seat.

Stanley Tillekeratne was in the list of silks appointed in the year 1993, but he did not take oaths until several years after. He was the Governor of the Central Province.

Stanley was a great orator, a superb criminal lawyer and a man of real wit. These are the members of our profession that we must remember and honour.