By The Bar Council of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has unanimously called for BASL President Kaushalya Navaratne to resign from office after a five-member committee appointed to investigate into the JAICA fund controversy, found that the BASL President had failed to act with transparency.
Until then, Kaushalya Navaratne was directed by the Bar Council not to exercise the powers and functions of the President of the BASL.
In its report, the five-member-committee found that BASL President Kaushalya Navaratne PC had failed to act with transparency in relation to the contract entered into by the BASL with JICA. The committee further held that the BASL President had violated the trust reposed in him as the President of the BASL.
President’s Counsel Anura Meddegoda was elected as the Deputy President of the BASL to succeed Nalinda Indatissa PC who resigned from that office.
Defender of the Law
Nawaratne pledged to stand firmly against any undue interference to the judiciary when he was elected . He said that protecting the independence of the judiciary is important to democracy and
assured that the Bar would uphold the Constitution and protect the rule of law, while defending human rights all the time. The current revelations are serious said a senior lawyer who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
