Bar Association of Sri Lanka releasing a statement over the crisis on the Supreme Court decision delivered against Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon stresses that neither the Prime Minister nor the Speaker has any authority to override the Court’s decisions.
The leading professional body of the Lawyers, BASL strongly condemned the Government’s efforts to subvert the course of justice about the interim orders given by the Supreme Court in the cases relating to the appointment of IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon.
In the statement, the BASL said that in the said cases, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court heard all parties, including the Attorney General and counsel for Tennakoon, and delivered its order granting leave to proceed.
The BASL further pointed out that the Court also issued an interim order restraining Tennakoon from exercising the duties, functions, and powers of the IGP until the final determination of the applications.
The full statement is as follows:
It is in the exercise of these powers that the Supreme Court has previously quashed the grant of pardons by the President, quashed the dissolution of Parliament, and ruled against the President who was in office during the Easter Sunday attacks. In the case of Edward Siva v. Dr. Shirani Bandaranaike [1997(1) SLR 92], a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court held as follows, quoting with approval the decision of the Supreme Court in Bandara v. Premachandra [1994(1) SLR 301]:
“In common with Courts in other democracies founded on the Rule of Law, this Court has consistently recognized that powers of appointment are not absolute: ‘There are no absolute or unfettered discretions in public law; discretions are conferred on public functionaries in trust for the public, to be used for the public good, and the propriety of the exercise of such discretions is to be judged by reference to the purposes for which they were so entrusted.'”
Any other forum cannot overrule the decisions of the Supreme Court; neither the Prime Minister nor the Speaker has any authority to override the Court’s decisions. It is essential for the Rule of Law and the independence of the judiciary that the executive and legislature respect the judgments of the courts of the land. Failure to honor the decisions of the courts of the land by the Government will result in a loss of public confidence in the administration of justice and will seriously imperil democracy.
The BASL expresses its fullest confidence in the judiciary of Sri Lanka, including the Supreme Court, and will stand by the judiciary to ensure that its integrity is protected at this critical hour.
