• 67 petitions filed against Bill 
• Court rejects call for full bench 

The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday (1) began considering 67 petitions challenging the Government’s proposed 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which seeks to extend the retirement age of Superior Court Judges by two years.

The petitions are being heard before a five-member bench comprising Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justices Achala Wengappuli, Arjuna Obeyesekere, Sampath B Abayakoon and K M Gihan H Kulatunga.

A further five petitions have been filed challenging the Judicature Bill, which seeks to similarly extend the retirement age of members of the minor Judiciary by two years.

At the outset, the SC ordered that proceedings be moved from Courtroom 502 to Courtroom 501 after several attorneys, including President’s Counsel (PC) M A Sumanthiran, pointed out that the original courtroom did not have sufficient space.

Meanwhile, several counsel appearing for petitioners urged the Court to have the petitions considered by a full bench comprising all sitting SC judges.

Sumanthiran PC made the request when the petitions were taken up before the five-member bench headed by CJ Surasena. PCs Saliya Pieris, M Ali Sabry, Geoffrey Alagaratnam, Eraj de Silva, Srinath Perera, Anura Meddegoda and Maithri Gunaratne, among others, also supported the request.

However, Solicitor General Viraj Dayaratne PC, appearing for the Attorney General, submitted that the authority to determine the composition of a judicial bench rests with the Chief Justice.

Referring to Article 132(3) of the Constitution, Dayaratne argued that the Chief Justice has the discretion to determine the number of judges on a bench and that such discretion could not be interfered with by another party. Nigel Hatch PC, appearing for an intervening petitioner, also made submissions on the Chief Justice’s discretion over bench composition.

After considering the submissions, the SC rejected the request for a full bench and directed that the petitions proceed before the existing five-member bench.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Spokesperson Dr Nalinda Jayatissa said the SC has three weeks from yesterday to determine whether the proposed 22nd Amendment requires a referendum.

He said the Court would consider the petitions and communicate its Determination to Parliament, deciding whether the Bill could be passed with a two-thirds majority alone or whether approval at a referendum would also be required.

Jayatissa stressed that no referendum could be held on the proposed Amendment without an SC determination, regardless of whether such a request was made by the Government or Opposition.