Saturday 17th August, 2024

Justice Sobhitha Rajakaruna was sworn in before President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Acting President of the Court of Appeal (CA), yesterday. He will function in that position until the return of the CA President Justice Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne, who is currently overseas, according to media reports. Curiously, President Wickremesinghe has refused to appoint an Acting IGP in defiance of a Supreme Court (SC) order.

Following the aforesaid SC order, last month, President Wickremesinghe claimed that since he was contesting the upcoming presidential election, he did not want to appoint an Acting IGP lest that appointment should be held against him. If he thinks he cannot make acting appointments in the state sector owing to his presidential candidacy, how come he has sworn in the Acting CA President ?

One may argue that the two situations in question are vastly different, but what is at issue is the President’s refusal to make acting appointments while being in the presidential fray. It can also be argued that the CA President is overseas and therefore the President has been left with no alternative but to appoint an Acting CA President. If so, a wag says, the solution to the IGP issue may be to send IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon overseas so that an Acting IGP can be appointed.

One of the key issues that have strengthened the hands of the Opposition politicians, especially the contenders for the executive presidency, is President Wickremesinghe’s defiance of the aforesaid SC order. Claiming that the IGP’s post had not fallen vacant, he asked Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to discuss the issue with the Chief Justice and sort it out; he thereby incurred much public opprobrium. Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told Parliament that the SC order at issue was not valid because the IGP’s appointment had been made by the Constitutional Council (CC), which, he said, was part of the legislature.

It has been proved beyond any doubt that the CC is a part of the Executive and not the Legislature, as President Wickremesinghe himself once declared in Parliament, and therefore the CC decisions can be legally challenged. Therefore, the PM’s argument does not hold water. One may recall that after the Easter Sunday terror attacks, the then IGP Pujith Jayasundera was sent on compulsory leave, and C. D. Wickramaratne was appointed the Acting IGP. That precedent must be followed.

President Wickremesinghe’s critics maintain that his refusal to comply with the SC order in question is a foretaste of what is to come if he secures the presidency and forms the next government. Their contention has resonated with all those who cherish democracy, and want no one to be above the law.

There seems to be something bizarre about the executive presidency; the wielder thereof, after being ensconced in power, tends to take leave of his or her senses, and score own goals.