‘CJ’s impeachment – majority view should be considered’
by Uditha Kumarasinghe
 Leader of the House and Irrigation and Water Management Minister
Nimal Siripala de Silva said if the majority of parliamentarians are of
the view that Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake should be impeached as
she had committed certain malpractices, it has to be considered.
There can be disagreement on the views expressed against the
impeachment motion. We should not forget the fact that 117 Government
parliamentarians held that the Chief Justice should be removed through
an impeachment motion. So why shouldn’t we respect this view, the
Minister told the Sunday Observer yesterday.
“We say that a group of 117 Government MPs signed the impeachment
motion against the Chief Justice under the relevant provision in the
Constitution and Standing Orders of Parliament. Therefore, it is wrong
for some people to interpret this as an offence or mistake committed by
the parliamentarians,” the Minister said. The Minister said every
citizen or organisation has a democratic right to air its views.
"I don’t say that the views expressed by the Maha Sangha and other
sections of the society should be condemned".
Various people will arrive at different conclusions. We should
respect other’s views as well.
This does not mean that we should agree with all their views.
When the 117 parliamentarians, the signatories to the impeachment
motion are of the view that the Chief Justice should be impeached, we
cannot ignore it.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa will decide on the impeachment when it is
presented in Parliament.
The impeachment motion should be based on the laws of the country, he
said.
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