Wijedasa Rajapakshe hits out at Constitutional Council

COLOMBO (News 1st) -Former Minister Wijedasa Rajapakshe convened a media briefing today(February 13). Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said that the Constitutional Council was the most corrupt institution in Sri Lanka. He said that the Constitutional Council was not independent and decisions it made are politically biased. This has resulted in a major issue in the judiciary.   He noted that the Constitutional Council had barred the President from appointing a Chairperson to the Court of Appeal. He argued that the President's recommendation to appoint Solicitor General, Suhada Gamlath as the Attorney General was also rejected. This is because he was the secretary to the Ministry of Law and Order during Mahinda Rajapaksa's regime.   He added that Senior DIG S.M. Wickremesinghe lost the position of Inspector General of Police as he was the Chief Security officer of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Constitutional Council on many occasions rejected the appointment of the current acting justice of the Court of Appeal Deepali Wijesundara as the Chairperson of the Court of Appeal and to promote her to the Supreme Court. According to Rajapakshe, it was due to the verdict given by justice Deepali Wijesundara on the “white flag” court case as a High Court judge.   He stressed that the President recommend names to be promoted to the Supreme Court after he got the recommendations of the Chief Justice. It was impossible for the Constitutional Council to determine the conduct of those recommended. He added that only the Judicial Services Commission knew the conduct of the judges.   He finally added that if anyone were to argue his allegations were otherwise, he was ready to debate them. He openly challenged anyone to a live television debate.