‘IMPEACHMENT MUST GO ON’

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

* Parliament can decide whether or not to accept impeachment charges

* Simple majority enough to pass resolution

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said impeachment must go on with due respect for the Constitution, Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) leader and Senior Minister Prof Tissa Vitharana said yesterday.

Prof Vitharana said this on being asked whether President Rajapaksa has responded to the letter submitted by him, Communist Party leader D E W Gunasekera and Democratic Leftist Front leader Vasudeva Nanayakkara, which requested the President was made respondent in the case after hearing it for three and a half years, when she faced impeachment charges. He was of the view that the depositors would have to suffer further, had she not decided to stay away from the Bench hearing the case.

De Silva said she planned to refer the case to the Commercial High Court further inconveniencing the depositors.

This was averted with her decision not to sit in benches hearing this case.

He accused the Chief Justice of adopting double standards over the Golden Key depositors’ case. De Silva said the Chief Justice heard the Divi Neguma case and she gave the judgment. “But in the Golden Key depositors case, the case was to be referred to the Commercial High Court after hearing it for over three and a half years,” he said.

“She evaded making any progress in the Golden Key Depositors’ case and set a side the repayment plan approved by the previous Bench,” he said. De Silva said the case was to be given up by her even after written submissions were produced to court. “The written submissions consisting of 40 pages were drafted by Counsel Prof Hareed M Zafrullah. He said that the counsel requested oral submission from the part of depositors and the Court refused that request too.”

De Silva said the new panel headed by Justice Nimal Amaratunga also wanted to deliver the judgment prepared by her.

However, the counsel argued to forgo the former panel order and requested the court approval for oral submissions. De Silva said the Supreme Court at the last hearing decided to fix the case for oral submissions on February 18 next year.