Parliament should adopt a code of conduct for all serving judges in order to ensure the independence of the Judiciary, said the All Ceylon Makkal Congress Leader and Opposition Parliamentarian Rishad Bathiudeen.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday (6) in response to a statement made by Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs, and Constitutional Reforms, President’s Counsel Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe regarding a previous statement made by him (Bathiudeen), he said that he has never mentioned the name of any Supreme Court Justice as was alleged by Dr. Rajapakshe, and that therefore, there is no need of any clarification regarding the incident. He also said that he has no issue with the Judiciary and that he admired the Judiciary for its independence even when it has given verdicts against four former Executive Presidents (a reference to Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena, and Gotabaya Rajapaksa).
He said that Dr. Rajapakshe has misinterpreted what he said even when he never mentioned any judge’s name specifically during his Parliamentary speeches. Speaking further, Bathiudeen said that Parliament should adopt a code of conduct for all judges, taking countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom as examples, and also said that it would help to maintain the independence of the Judiciary.
However, it must be noted that in both the said countries, it is not the Legislatures that have adopted such codes of conduct but the relevant apex judicial bodies.
Responding to Bathiudeen, Dr. Rajapakshe said that even though he did not mention any name, it was implied that he was referring to a particular Judge when he highlighted his (the judge’s) ethnicity since there is only one sitting Judge in the Supreme Court (SC) who is a Muslim. “Earlier, the Chief Opposition Whip (attorney Lakshman Kiriella) said that he did not mention the name of any judge and he also said that there are many Muslim judges in courts. But, MP (Bathiudeen) was referring to one of his cases in the SC. There is only one Muslim Judge in the SC,” he said.
Earlier, the Minister said that MPs must be strictly advised on how to comment on judicial matters, since the lack of courtesy in certain Parliamentary speeches could damage the relationship between the Legislature and the Judiciary when it comes to governance.
Responding to Bathiudeen’s statement, Dr. Rajapakshe said that the former must withdraw his statement as soon as possible, making an apology to the Justice whose name was mentioned by the MP. He said that no one can criticise a judge for recusing himself/herself from a case since he/she has a right to decide whether he/she hears the particular case or not, if such cannot be heard according to his/her conscience.