Foundation of Victimized Judges says :

Parliament can probe ex-CJ

Sandasen MARASINGHE

The Foundation of Victimized Judges said yesterday that the claim that appointing of a Parliamentary Select Committee to probe allegations against a former Chief Justice is irregular, was misleading and a misinterpretation of the law.

The Foundation of the Victimized Judges, a group of judicial officers who claimed they were victimized during the period of 1999-2009 jointly made this observation at a press conference held at the Foundation Institute yesterday.

The Foundation of the Victimized Judges further said that making misleading statements on the procedures of Parliament is a breach of parliamentary privileges and also creates another issue of Parliamentary Privilege. Coordinator for the Foundation of Victimized Judges and former District Judge G D Kulathilake said at the conference that about 42 judges were victimized during this period and they were terminated from the judicial service arbitrarily. He said in these incidents judges were forced to submit their letters of resignation to the Judicial Service Commission, or were terminated without the judges being given a fair hearing or in some cases even without giving them a charge sheet.

The Foundation also stated that that as a result of their struggle against this injustice, a Parliamentary Select Committee has been appointed against former Chief Justice Sarath N Silva but he is making various misleading statements.

Kulathilake also stated that former Chief Justice Neville Samarakoon also faced an inquiry before such a Parliamentary Select Committee and was acquitted of the charges. He also said that if Sarath N Silva is innocent he could face the Parliamentary Select Committee and prove his innocence and the judges also will provide evidence in support of their charges.

Former District Judge Kulathilake said most of these terminations were done maliciously as they did not follow the directions of former CJ Sarath N Silva in delivering the judgements of certain cases before them.

He also stated that when they took measures to move two no confidence motions in Parliament against the former CJ while he was in office, Parliament was adjourned and on the other occasion, the Parliament was dissolved. Former Magistrates Hiran Ekanayake, M S N L de Costa, S Dikpitiya, S. P Bandaranayake and H V Liyanage also spoke on the occasion.

Former judges Pearl Karaliyadda, D M Siriwardena and Prabath de Silva also participated.