Sri Lanka’s Lawyers Collective today called upon Judges of the Supreme Court to refuse to accept an appointment of an acting Chief Justice or refuse to recognise any person appointed to the office of Chief Justice claiming that such an appointment would be in violation of the country’s constitution.

“Judges of the Supreme Court should refuse to accept an appointment of Chief Justice (or as acting Chief Justice) or refuse to recognise any person appointed to the office of Chief Justice and refuse to sit with a person appointed as the Chief Justice as such an appointment would be contrary to the Constitution which Your Lordships and Ladyships and we as members of the Bar have sworn to uphold,” they requested.

The Supreme Court had interpreted the Constitution holding that a Select Committee does not have the power to arrive at a finding against a Judge of a Superior Court, while the Court of Appeal exercising Writ jurisdiction quashed the decision of the PSC finding Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake guilty of three charges set out in the impeachment resolution submitted by 117 Members of Parliament.

In view of the interpretation given by the Supreme Court and the decision of the Court of Appeal, the attempt to remove the Chief Justice from office is without any legal basis and contrary to the Constitution and the law of the land, the lawyers’ collective said today in an open letter to Supreme Court judges.

It further added that Supreme Court judges are obliged to follow the decisions of their courts and pointed out that if the judges refuse to abide by the rulings of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, “you cannot expect any other person to follow the orders of any of our courts.”