DON’T DENIGRATE JUDICIARY, PRESIDENT TELLS BASL

Chaminda PERERA

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has requested lawyers not to engage in activity within the courts precincts that would disparage the dignity of the legal profession and the Judiciary.

Presidential spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said the President made this request when representatives of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka met him at Temple Trees yesterday.

He said that the President has stressed the importance of safeguarding the independence and the dignity of the judiciary at this meeting.

“The President told the BASL representatives that he had no grudge against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, and had to follow the Constitutional process”, he added.

Samaranayake said that President Rajapaksa pointed out that he had been left with no other option than taking action when the parliament’s decision was conveyed to him.

The meeting was attended by BASL President Wijeyadasa Rajapakse PC and was conducted very much in a cordial and amicable setting, he said.

He said that the President apprised the BASL representatives of the procedure followed by him with regard to the impeachment.

Samaranayake said that the President met Supreme Court judges on Saturday and had briefed them on the Constitutional process followed by him with regard to the impeachment motion.