- Judicature Act also to be amended
- 22nd Amendment to raise SC Judges’ retirement age to 67
The Attorney General has sanctioned, under Article 77 of the Constitution, the proposed Constitutional Amendment to extend the retirement age of Superior Court Judges, the Sunday Observer learns.
Simultaneously, the Judicature Act No. 35 of 1983 will be amended to extend the retirement ages of High Court Judges and Judicial Officers of the minor Judiciary.
Under the proposed 22nd Constitutional Amendment, Article 107(5) of the Constitution will be amended to extend the retirement age of Supreme Court Judges to 67 years and Court of Appeal Judges to 65 years.
Through the proposed amendment to the Judicature Act, Section 6 thereof will be amended to extend the retirement age of High Court Judges to 63 years and District Judges and Magistrates to 62 years.
Upon receipt of the Attorney General’s opinion under Article 77 of the Constitution, the proposed Bills will be published immediately in the Government Gazette. In terms of Article 78 of the Constitution, a minimum period of one week is required after publication in the Gazette before a Bill can be placed on the Order Paper and tabled in Parliament.
In terms of Article 121 of the Constitution, any citizen has 14 days to petition the Supreme Court for a determination on the constitutionality of a Bill.
However, under Article 120 of the Constitution, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in determining the constitutionality of a Bill, which has been described in its long title as being for the amendment of any provision of the Constitution, is limited to determining whether the proposed Bill requires approval by the People at a Referendum.
Under Article 121(3) of the Constitution, the Supreme Court shall make and communicate its determination to the Speaker within three weeks from the filing of any such petition challenging the Bill.
Minister of Justice and National Integration Harshana Nanayakkara said the main objective of the proposed 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was to utilise the services of experienced and senior Judges to expedite the hearing of cases, as more than 1.1 million cases are currently pending within the Judicial system.
The Minister said that while developed countries have between 40 and 60 judges per one million people, Sri Lanka has only around 20 judges per million people. Retaining experienced Judges and expediting hearings on a daily or weekly basis had been proposed as a viable approach to addressing the backlog, in addition to establishing specialised Courts for certain cases and increasing the number of Judicial Officers in lower Courts.
He said it had been observed that some litigants had passed away while their cases remained pending in the Court system for years. Expediting and streamlining Court proceedings would, therefore, provide relief to long-suffering litigants and their families, Minister Nanayakkara said.
He said that as a solution to the shortage of Judicial Officers that had existed for 10 to 15 years, steps had been taken to increase the retirement age by two years not only for Supreme Court (SC) and Court of Appeal (CA) Judges but also for Magistrates and District Judges across the entire judicial system. He rejected Opposition allegations that the decision would undermine the independence of the Judiciary.
President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), President’s Counsel Rajeev Amarasuriya, said that if the 22nd Constitutional Amendment is introduced, public approval through a Referendum would be required.
Appearing on a private television programme, BASL President Amarasuriya accused the Government of violating the Constitution by failing to make proper appointments to fill the eight existing vacancies in the SC and the CA.
He said the Government’s decision to suddenly extend the retirement age without prior consultation with stakeholders, while delaying these appointments for months, lacked transparency.
However, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa said at the Cabinet decision briefing held on July 28 that there was no Constitutional requirement to hold a public Referendum on the matter.
Many countries have increased the retirement ages of Superior Court Justices. In the United States (US), Supreme Court Judges serve for life, while the United Kingdom (UK) has increased the retirement age of Supreme Court Judges to 75 from 70. Canada, Brazil and Argentina have also fixed 75 years as the retirement age for Supreme Court Judges. In Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Israel, the Philippines and South Korea, Superior Courts have a mandatory retirement age of 70 years.