Justice K. Sripavan today took oaths as the 44th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka before President Maithripala Sirisena.

Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake yesterday retired from service,after the resumption of office the previous day as the Chief Justice. Dr. Bandaranaike (57) was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1996. She was purportedly impeached by Parliament in 2013. 

Yesterday, she publicly announced her retirement at a ceremonial sitting of the Supreme Court.

While addressing the Ceremonial Sitting at the Hulftsdorp Court complex, Bandaranaike said that she greets Justice Kanagasabapathy J. Sripavan, the senior-most Judge of the Supreme Court. 

President Maithripala Sirisena chose to take his oath of office before Justice Sripavan, on 9 January.

Sripavan was a former Deputy Solicitor General and judge of the Court of Appeal. He has also served as acting Chief Justice.

Sripavan is the second Tamil to be Chief Justice of the Sri Lankan Supreme Court. The first Tamil to hold the highest judicial post in Sri Lanka was Suppiah Sharvananda, who served between 1984 and 1988. 

Born in 1952, Sripavan was educated at the Jaffna Hindu College and the Law College in Colombo. After a short stint at the private bar in the late 1970s, he joined the Attorney General’s Office as a government counsel. He rose to be Deputy Solicitor General before he was appointed a judge in the Court of Appeal.  He was party to many landmark judgments when he was raised to the Supreme Court.