AG Palitha Fernando retires

by Sarath Malalasekera

Attorney General, Sarath Palitha Fernando PC retired from service on Thursday after serving the Attorney General's Department for over 34 years.

He holds the degrees of Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Master of Laws (LLM) (International Law) from the University of Colombo and Master of Laws (LL.M) (International Commercial Law) from the University of Bristol (UK).

Fernando an old boy of Royal College, Colombo joined the Sri Lanka Law College and won the prize for Commercial Law, the Hector Jayawardane gold Medal for the First Place at the Address to the Jury Contest in English and the SR Wijetilleke Challenge Shield for First Place at the Address to the Jury in Sinhala.

He was later promoted Senior State Counsel, Deputy Solicitor General, Additional Solicitor General and the Attorney General of Sri Lanka on July 16, 2012.

In May 2007 he was appointed a President's Counsel by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

While in the Attorney General's Department he prosecuted in a number of cases including the Hokandara Murder case and the Udathalawinna Murder trial at - Bar.

He joined the Volunteer Force of the Sri Lanka Navy as Commander in 1989 and was promoted to the rank of Captain, Commodore and Rear Admiral. He served as the Head of the Legal Division of the Sri Lanka Navy and Judge Advocate of the Sri Lanka Navy and served as prosecutor and also Judge Advocate at Several Court Martials of all services.

He has lectured at many leading institutions including the Sri Lanka Law College, University of Colombo, Open University of Sri Lanka, Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies, Bandaranaike Diplomatic Training Institute and Sri Lanka Judges Institute.

Recently Palitha launched four books authored by him.

He is the son of Thomas Fernando and Mrs. Sylvia Fernando, husband of Lalinthi and father of Viran an Attorney-at-Law and Rajiv.