{"id":37674,"date":"2015-01-23T20:10:57","date_gmt":"2015-01-24T01:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=37674"},"modified":"2015-01-23T20:10:57","modified_gmt":"2015-01-24T01:10:57","slug":"dignity-of-judiciary-eroded-further-as-cid-grills-chief-justice-mohan-peiris-in-his-chambers-on-supreme-courts-5th-floor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=37674","title":{"rendered":"Dignity of Judiciary Eroded Further as CID Grills Chief Justice Mohan Peiris in his Chambers on Supreme Courts 5th Floor"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBy <\/p>\n

Dharisha Bastians<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s Chief Justice Mohan Peiris was yesterday grilled by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over a complaint filed about an alleged plot to hold power by force on election night by the defeated Rajapaksa regime.<\/p>\n

Peiris, appointed Chief Justice by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in January 2013 following the impeachment of Shirani Bandaranayake, was spotted at Temple Trees, the defeated president\u2019s official residence in the early hours of 9 January.<\/p>\n

The Chief Justice was questioned in his Chambers on the fifth floor of the Supreme Court complex, in a development without precedence.<\/p>\n

Public Security Minister John Amaratunga confirmed that the CID had questioned the Chief Justice on the complaint.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera filed a complaint at the CID last week, naming Chief Justice Peiris as being involved in a discussion about the alleged coup being plotted by the defeated regime.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who went to Temple Trees at 5 a.m. on 9 January, reportedly accosted Peiris in the premises.<\/p>\n

Peiris is mired in controversy after he was spotted at Temple Trees, an election operations centre of a candidate in the 2015 presidential election while results were being released.<\/p>\n

The Bar Association has publicly called for his resignation over the controversy, which lawyers say gravely impacts the honour and dignity of the Judiciary.<\/p>\n

Pieris is negotiating for diplomatic postings with the current administration in exchange for his resignation from office, BASL President Attorney Upul Jayasuriya told Daily FT on Thursday.<\/p>\n

CJ\u2019s \u2018spokesman\u2019 is ex-Navy officer, lawyers say
\nSenior lawyers are raising questions about Chief Justice Mohan Peiris\u2019 \u2018spokesman\u2019 Wijeratne Kodippili, saying there is no provision for the head of the Judiciary to make such appointments.<\/p>\n

The \u2018spokesman\u2019, a lawyer said he was authorised to speak on behalf of the Chief Justice, to inform the public that Peiris had not resigned from office.
\nA media statement on the Chief Justice\u2019s official letterhead had also been issued by Kodippili, Attorney at Law J.C. Weliamuna told Daily FT.
\nWeliamuna said upon inquiries they had found that Kodippili was a former naval officer, who had been removed from the Sri Lanka Navy and taken oaths as a lawyer two years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is the provision for the Chief Justice to appoint a spokesman? Who pays for such an appointment,\u201d Weliamuna queried.<\/p>\n

Statements on behalf of the upper Judiciary are customarily issued by the Judicial Services Commission, of which the Chief Justice is the ex-officio Chair.<\/p>\n

Lawyers would meet over the weekend to decide on serious action against the head of the Judiciary, he added.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:Daily FT<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dharisha Bastians Sri Lanka\u2019s Chief Justice Mohan Peiris was yesterday grilled by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over a complaint filed about an alleged plot to hold power by force on election night by the defeated Rajapaksa regime. Peiris, appointed Chief Justice by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in January 2013 following the impeachment of …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Dignity of Judiciary Eroded Further as CID Grills Chief Justice Mohan Peiris in his Chambers on Supreme Courts 5th Floor’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37674"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37674"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37675,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37674\/revisions\/37675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}