NEW CJ TAKES OATHS; ALL CASES AGAINST PSC WITHDRAWN

Mohan Peiris, former Attorney General took oaths as the country’s 44th Chief Justice before President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees yesterday.

The Parliamentary Council appointed as per the 18th Amendment to the Constitution met last morning and approved the President’s nominee, Mohan Peiris, to the top post of the country’s judiciary.

Mohan Peiris

* Educated at St. Joseph’s College and Royal College, Colombo.
* Won colours in cricket.
* Called to the Bar in 1975.
* Enrolled as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1978.
* In 1981, joined the Attorney General’s Department as a State Counsel.
* Became a Senior State Counsel serving for over 15 years in the AG’s Dept.

* Trained at National Institute of Trial Advocacy at Harvard Law School, Centre for Police and Criminal Justice Studies at Jesus College, Cambridge, and at George Washington University.

*Specialized in original and appellate courts in the areas of inter alia, administrative law, commercial law, land law, fundamental rights, industrial law, injunctions and criminal law and as an arbitrator.

* Was Chairman of the Board of Examiners for the Intermediate Examination and Examiner of the Sri Lanka Law College, a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo, Deputy President of the Sri Lanka Bar Association (BASL) and a member of the Sri Lankan Delegation for the Universal Periodic review at the 8th Session of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations.

Meanwhile, all seven petitions filed before the Appeals Court against the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) report on the impeachment motion against former Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayake were withdrawn by the petitioners yesterday.

The petitions challenged the authority of the PSC to investigate impeachment charges against the Chief Justice. They were withdrawn yesterday following the appointment of the new Chief Justice.

Legal luminary and former Attorney General Peiris is the country’s 44th Chief Justice.

Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunge was also present at the oath taking, the President’s Media Unit said.

President Rajapaksa sacked Dr Bandaranayke on Sunday following a Parliamentary resolution adopted by a majority of 106 votes to impeach the country’s first female Chief Justice on charges of misconduct.

Chief Justice Peiris was educated at St Joseph’s College, Colombo and Royal College, Colombo, where he won colours in cricket.

Thereafter, he entered the Sri Lanka Law College and was called to the Bar in 1975, starting his legal practice under senior lawyers D R P Gunatilleke and Daya Perera, PC.

Thereafter, he enrolled as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1978. In 1981, he joined the Attorney General’s Department as a State Counsel, later becoming a Senior State Counsel serving for over 15 years. During this time, he trained at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy at Harvard Law School, the Centre for Police and Criminal Justice Studies at Jesus College, Cambridge and at George Washington University.

Leaving the Attorney-General’s Department, he started his private practice in the Unofficial Bar. He specialised in original and

appellate courts in the areas inter alia of administrative law, commercial law, land law, fundamental rights, industrial law, injunctions and criminal law and as an arbitrator.

He was the chairman of the Board of Examiners for the Intermediate Examination and Examiner of the Sri Lanka Law College, a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo, Deputy President of the Sri Lanka Bar Association (BASL) and a member of the Sri Lankan delegation to the Universal Periodic review at the 8th Session of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations.