Opposition: Govt. meddling with judicial process

By Saman Indrajith

Chief Opposition Whip Kandy District SJB MP Lakshman Kiriella told Parliament yesterday that the government had meddled with the judicial processes.

“The Supreme Court hands down judgments. As per some judgments, some are given punishments. Now, the government has found a method to change the Supreme Court judgments. Those who have been given punishments go before the Presidential Commission and complain that they have been politically victimised. The objective is to get a ruling from the Commission that there was political victimisations and thereafter get a presidential pardon. This practice has caused an affront to the Supreme Court.

“A presidential commission has no power to review Supreme Court judgments. A presidential commission has no powers to investigate a Supreme Court decision. I call on the Supreme Court to summon the members of the Presidential Commission and inquire about their mandate to challenge Supreme Court judgments. “There have been many presidential commissions but we don’t have their reports. There have been many such commissions under Presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena. Those commissions at the end of their terms submitted reports. But we cannot find those reports in the parliament library. When inquiries are made, the library officials tell us those reports have not been sent to them by the Presidential Secretariat. When we call on the Presidential Secretariat the officials there say that they cannot release them. Why do you have to hide these reports? I call on the government to send those reports to the parliament library.

“Today the courts have been closed in Hulftsdorp, and about 2,000 young lawyers have been affected. We ask the government to grant them some relief.”