Sri Lanka’s criminal justice system is under increasing pressure not only because of mounting court delays but also because there are too few prosecutors to handle an ever-growing caseload.
The Attorney General’s Department, which is responsible for prosecuting serious criminal offences, advising the Government, and representing the State in courts, is operating with hundreds of vacancies, according to the Auditor General’s 2024 report.
The audit found that nearly half of the department’s approved cadre remained unfilled at the end of last year, leaving existing State counsel to shoulder thousands of pending files.
The findings have renewed concerns over whether Sri Lanka’s justice system has sufficient prosecutorial capacity to keep pace with criminal investigations, appeals, and indictments.
According to the Auditor General’s report, the department had an approved cadre of 1,295 officers as of 31 December 2024. Only 690 positions had been filled, leaving 605 vacancies – almost 47% of the approved workforce. The shortage is particularly acute among senior officers, where 292 of 523 approved positions remained vacant.
The consequences are visible in the department’s workload.
The audit reveals that the Attorney General’s Department handled 25,718 instructing files during 2024. Only 7,698 were completed, leaving 18,020 pending by year’s end. Court work shows an even larger backlog. Of 18,553 court case files handled during the year, only 2,957 were completed, while 15,596 remained pending.
The department attributed much of the delay to long-standing vacancies, the increasing complexity of criminal prosecutions, and incomplete investigation files forwarded by investigative agencies. It also noted that indictments remained open until judicial proceedings concluded, meaning some delays were beyond the department’s direct control.
Even so, the Auditor General recommended that steps be taken to expedite the disposal of both instructing files and court cases while addressing staffing shortages.
The report comes at a time when Sri Lanka continues to grapple with wider delays throughout the justice system, where cases often remain pending for years before reaching conclusion.
Unlike public discussion, which frequently focuses on judicial vacancies and court infrastructure, legal practitioners say prosecutions cannot move forward unless there are sufficient State counsel to examine Police files, advise investigators, draft indictments, and appear in court.
Every serious criminal prosecution passes through the Attorney General’s Department before trial. Delays at that stage inevitably ripple through the wider justice system.
Commonwealth experience
Other Commonwealth jurisdictions with legal systems derived from English common law have responded differently to growing criminal caseloads.
In the United Kingdom, prosecutions are handled by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which employs prosecutors through regional offices across England and Wales. Cases are allocated electronically, prosecutors specialise in different categories of offences, and prosecutors work closely with the Police from the earliest stages of investigations.
Australia operates a decentralised model through directors of public prosecutions in each State and territory. Less serious criminal matters are often prosecuted by Police prosecutors in lower courts, allowing Crown prosecutors to concentrate on indictable offences and major criminal trials.
New Zealand similarly distributes prosecution work through a network of Crown solicitors operating across the country rather than concentrating all criminal prosecutions within a single central department. Specialist prosecutors handle complex criminal matters while digital case management has improved efficiency.
While these systems do not eliminate delays altogether, they reduce bottlenecks by spreading workloads across regional prosecution services and ensuring prosecutors specialise in particular areas of law.
Sri Lanka’s Attorney General’s Department remains comparatively centralised, with State counsel expected to handle wide-ranging responsibilities including criminal prosecutions, constitutional litigation, civil matters, and advisory work for Government institutions.
More than a numbers problem
The Auditor General’s Department’s audit report suggests staffing shortages are only one part of the challenge. It also identifies weaknesses in record management, procurement, financial administration, and revenue collection.
Outstanding revenue owed to the department stood at Rs. 484.6 million by the end of 2024, including more than Rs. 114 million that had remained unpaid for over a decade. Auditors also found discrepancies between accounting records, weaknesses in procurement procedures, and failures to comply with several financial regulations.
Although these administrative shortcomings do not directly cause court delays, they point to wider institutional pressures facing the department.
During his tenure as Minister of Justice between 2020 and 2022, Ali Sabry introduced a series of justice-sector reforms aimed at reducing delays, including increasing judicial appointments, expanding court infrastructure, and modernising court administration.
The challenge ahead
Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s Department has informed auditors that recruitment is under way to fill vacancies and that action has been taken to strengthen administrative systems. Whether those measures will be sufficient remains to be seen.
The Auditor General’s findings suggest that Sri Lanka’s justice system is facing a challenge that extends beyond crowded courtrooms. Before a judge hears a criminal case, prosecutors must assess evidence, advise investigators, prepare indictments, and conduct the prosecution.
When nearly half of an institution’s approved workforce remains vacant, those responsibilities inevitably fall on fewer lawyers. For a justice system already struggling with delays, strengthening prosecutorial capacity may prove just as important as appointing more judges or building more courts.
As Sri Lanka considers the next phase of justice sector reforms, the experience of comparable Commonwealth jurisdictions suggests that timely justice depends not only on efficient courts but also on ensuring prosecutors have the resources, staffing, and institutional support needed to keep the system moving.
Responding to the findings, the Attorney General’s Department acknowledged that prolonged staff shortages had placed considerable pressure on its operations, while maintaining that several factors contributing to delays were beyond its direct control.
A senior official attached to the department, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Sunday Morning that the department had been operating with a significant number of vacancies for several years, forcing existing State counsel to manage an exceptionally heavy workload.
“The shortage of legal officers has inevitably affected the speed at which files can be processed. Recruitment has taken longer than expected due to administrative procedures, but steps are now being taken to fill vacant positions,” the official said.
The official added that delays could not be attributed solely to the Attorney General’s Department, noting that many investigation files received from law enforcement agencies were incomplete and required further clarification before legal action could proceed.
The department also pointed out that indictments filed before the high courts remained active until judicial proceedings concluded, meaning many files continued to appear as pending even after the department had completed its prosecutorial work.
Officials said that interviews had already been conducted to recruit officers to several senior positions and expressed confidence that strengthening the cadre would improve the department’s ability to manage its growing caseload.
The source further stated that efforts to modernise its administrative systems were continuing, including the introduction of digital solutions to improve file management and internal efficiency, while maintaining that sustained recruitment and broader justice sector reforms would be essential to reducing long-term delays.
All attempts made by The Sunday Morning to contact the Justice Minister and Secretary were futile.