The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has asked the government to provide the complete and unedited video recording of a meeting held between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and representatives of the association on August 12.
The request was made in a letter sent to the Media Unit of the Presidential Secretariat on August 14. The association said it had received a portion of the video relating to the discussion, but stressed that the material was not a complete recording.
According to the association, the footage currently available covers only the initial discussion and contains sections in which the audio is unclear. It has therefore requested the complete recording, including all comments, observations and responses made throughout the meeting, as well as the special statement delivered by the Bar Association’s delegation at the conclusion of the discussion.
The association also stressed that the footage should be supplied without any editing and at the highest possible audio and visual quality.
Meanwhile, the Bar Association has expressed its opposition to the government’s decision to increase the retirement age of judges. The association’s president, Rajeev Amarasuriya, made the position clear during the special discussion with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, in videos that have been made public.
Amarasuriya said the proposed amendment could seriously damage the independence of the judiciary and public confidence in the judicial system. He argued that judicial independence was not merely a legal concept but one founded on public trust.
He said decisions concerning critical matters such as the tenure or retirement age of judges should not be changed suddenly on the basis of political requirements.
“When a judge is appointed, he should have a fixed tenure. Changing it creates suspicion in society that there is interference with the judiciary. In 2012, when Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was removed, the Bar Association also stood for independence in this manner. Today, we are standing for the same principle,” the president said.
Amarasuriya also argued that increasing the retirement age of judges would not resolve the delays affecting the country’s judicial system. He said there were more than 1.1 million cases pending in the judicial system, with the majority before Magistrates’ Courts. Rather than extending judges’ retirement ages, he said greater emphasis should be placed on the use of technology and the development of infrastructure.
He also addressed allegations that the proposed amendment was intended to extend the tenure of a group of judges, including the Chief Justice, who is due to retire in December.
Amarasuriya further said that countries such as England and India introduce such changes only after years of formal discussion. Sri Lanka, he argued, should likewise follow a transparent process when considering changes affecting the judiciary.
