S Lankan lawyers not to welcome new chief justice

Shirani Bandaranayake, 54, the first ever lady chief justice has been found guilty by a parliamentary panel.

Colombo: Sri Lankan lawyers` apex body on Saturday adopted a resolution not to welcome the successor of Shirani Bandaranayake, the country`s first woman chief justice who has been found guilty of financial irregularities.

"Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) resolved that it will not welcome the successor of Bandaranayake in the wrongfully created vacancy consequent to the impeachment against her," Wijayadasa Rajapakshan, the BASL president, said. Rajapaksha said that three resolutions had been unanimously adopted at the BASL meeting. The BASL also resolved to ask the President Mahinda Rajapaksa to reconsider the dismissal of Bandaranayake by evaluating the process through an independent panel which Rajapaksa said he wants to set up. The lawyers also pressed for reforms in the existing provisions for the removal of supreme court judges. Bandaranayake, 54, the first ever lady chief justice has been found guilty by a parliamentary panel. A parliamentary panel found Bandaranayake guilty last week. Lawyers boycotted courts to protest at what they call an unfair impeachment move against the chief justice. The impeachment came after months of a running feud between the executive and the judiciary. PTI