• Line authorities blamed for lack of active participation results delay in court proceedings
• SJB’s Eran proposes to ease pressure on SC by establishing Provincial Courts of Appeal to hear FR, Constitutional Court to determine on Bills 

The Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms has already commenced discussions with the relevant authorities including the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in order to identify remedies for the prevailing lack of judges which has now become a severe problem to the country’s judicial system.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday (5), Subject Minister and President’s Counsel (PC) Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said that the delay in court procedures is mainly due to the prevailing lack of judges in the judicial system, adding that at the moment, a total of 1,127,265 cases have piled up in various types of courts. He also said that one Supreme Court (SC) Judge has to manage 322 cases while a Court of Appeal (CoA) Judge has to manage 171 cases.

When contacted by The Daily Morning yesterday (6), sources within the Ministry said that the Ministry has already looked into the issue and taken measures to discuss this with the related authorities such as the JSC, the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies, and the Treasury. According to the sources, numerous external reasons such as the lack of active participation of other line institutions have caused delays in court procedures apart from the lack of manpower. However, sources also said that the related Government institutions, such as the Government Analyst’s Department, which was previously labelled as an inactive Government body, are now functioning effectively. Sources also said that the Ministry does not have the autonomy to make the final decision in this regard since the approval of the above-mentioned authorities and the Cabinet of Ministers is needed to conduct new recruitments.

Dr. Rajapakshe expressed concern over the inadequate number of judges, stating that there are only 18 judges available to serve one million Sri Lankans, which falls significantly short of meeting the necessary requirements. He also said that although they had planned to establish several new courts and make new recruitments, the plans were delayed due to the current economic crisis, adding however that new court complexes are to be opened in Ratnapura and Welimada next week.

Meanwhile, former Justice Minister and incumbent Minister of Foreign Affairs M.U.M. Ali Sabry PC said that a large amount of cases has piled up in the Commercial High Court also due to the lack of the required judges to hear the cases in the court, adding that therefore, the digitisation of the judicial system should be accelerated as a remedy for this problem.

Speaking in Parliament during the same debate, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Opposition Parliamentarian Eran Wickramaratne also requested Dr. Rajapakshe to consider setting up CoAs in the provinces to hear civil appeals and fundamental rights cases, and a Constitutional Court to relieve the SC of excessive pressures with the increased number of Bills being challenged. Referring to the promotion of judges, he opined that in addition to seniority, performance-related criteria too should be considered.