7/29/2019 LEADING SILK (PRESIDENTS COUNSEL) AND BASL WERE NOT THERE TO GRACE THE CEREMONIAL WELCOME OF M

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LEADING SILK (PRESIDENTS COUNSEL) AND BASL WERE NOT THERE TO GRACE THE

CEREMONIAL WELCOME OF MOHAN PIERIS AS CHIEF JUSTICE

The ceremonial sitting that was held in breach of traditions that has been followed for well over200 years was boycotted by Bar Association of Sri Lanka and all leading Presidents Counsel in

the Country.

For the first time in the history the Ceremonial sitting to welcome new Chief Justice was held

under heavy police protection as has never seen before.

Those who did not grace the occasion and notably absent Presidents Counsel were Wijedasa

Rajapakse, K. Kanag-Isvaran, Romesh de Silva, Ikram Mohamed, Srinath Perera, Dr.

Jayampathy Wickremaratne, Geoffry Alagaratnam, Jayantha Gunasekera, Anil Silva, Ananda

Wijesekera, Maureen Seneviratne, Rohan Sahabandu, Uditha Egalahewa, Prasanna

Jayewardene, ,Maithree Wickremasinghe, Harsha Amarasekera, Nalin Ladduwahetty and

Senior Lawyers S.L. Gunasekera ,I.S. de Silva.A ceremonial sitting of the Supreme Court is traditionally organized after the Bar Association of

Sri Lanka makes an official request for a ceremonial welcome of Judge who is appointed to the

Supreme Court.

Without such a request there cannot be an official ceremonial sitting.

In the case of appointment of Mohan Peiris as the Chief Justice the Bar Association did not

make such a request and in fact passed a resolution unanimously at an extraordinary meeting

where well over 3000 of the Lawyers participated that the BASL will not participate in any such

ceremonial sitting.

A Ceremonial Sitting involves two traditional addresses one by the President of the BASL (thehead of the unofficial bar) and another by the Attorney General (head of the official bar)

welcoming the new appointee to office. The President of the BASL and its members cannot

participate in any ceremony to welcome Pieris in keeping with the resolution of the BASL

general body. All Attorneys at Law are members of the BASL, including the officers of the

Attorney Generals Department.

In keeping with that resolution the Bar Association and its members and leading Presidents

Counsel who form the inner Bar did not grace the occasion.

There were pro Government Lawyers who are holding key posts in the Government

Corporations and Departments who participated. There was not a single Presidents Counsel

with a standing who was willing to break the tradition and go against the resolution passed by

Bar Association of Sri Lanka.

However, breaking all traditions Razeek Zarook, Presidents Counsel the recently appointed

Chairman of the Bank of Ceylon, has made a welcome speech.