New Chief Justice takes oaths today

Sarath Malalasekera

Senior Supreme Court Judge Justice Dr. Shirani A. Bandaranayake will take oaths as the New Chief Justice of Sri Lanka before President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees today.

New Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake is the most Senior Supreme Court Judge and formerly Associate Professor of Law and the Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo.

Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake who is the most senior judge of the Supreme Court has written a number of judgements of great significance. Justice Dr. Bandaranayake has delivered a lot of dissenting judgements which received plaudits from the public and the legal fraternity.

Dr. Shirani Anshumala Bandaranayake obtained her Degree of Bachelor of Laws with second class honours in the upper division becoming first in the order of merit in 1980 from the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo. Dr. Bandaranayake was awarded the Degree of Master of Philosophy from the University of Colombo in 1983 and in the same year she was enrolled as an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

In 1986 she obtained the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of London, becoming the first woman in Sri Lanka to obtain a Ph.D in Law from a foreign university. Dr. Bandaranayake is a recipient of several scholarships and awards. She was awarded the Commonwealth Open Scholarship in 1983, the Chevening Scholarship in 1989, Fulbright-Hays Fellowship in 1996 and the British Council Assert Award in 1993 and 1994. The Zonta Club awarded the Woman of Achievement Award in the field of Law to Dr. Bandaranayake in 1998 and the District 306C of the International Lions Club made an Award to her in 2004. The Independent Television Network had made an award to Dr. Bandaranayake on account of the International Women’s Day in March 2007.

Dr. Bandaranayake has written several articles and Monographs and has presented several papers in the field of Public Law.

Dr. Bandaranayake commenced her career as a visiting lecturer attached to the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo in 1981 and after holding the positions of Assistant Lecturer and Senior Lecturer, became the Head of the Department of Law in 1987. After serving several stints as the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Law, she became the Dean of the Faculty in 1992. Dr. Bandaranayake has also held the position of Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo on several occasions. She became an Associate Professor of Law on merit in 1993.

Dr. Bandaranayake has served as a member of several Committees of the University of Colombo and other Universities and has also functioned as a member of the Human Rights Task Force, the Council of Legal Education and the Law Commission of Sri Lanka.

After serving the University of Colombo for over 16 years, Dr. Bandaranayake was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court in October 1996, at a time when she was functioning as the Associate Professor of Law and the Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo.

Dr. Bandaranayake has served as the Acting Chief Justice 11 times.

She is the first woman judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in which capacity she has served in for over 14 years.

Dr. Bandaranayake is married to Pradeepa Kariyawasam and has one son, Shaveen Bandaranayake Kariyawasam.