Text and pic by PRIYAN DE SILVA

Minister of Justice Ali Sabry, PC said at the opening of the new court complex at Kotawila, Matara on Friday (29), that since 1972 Sri Lanka had been a Republic and not a monarchy and it was the people who conferred power on the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa declared open the complex by remotely from Colombo. The new court complex in Kotawila was planned under the ‘Deyata Kirula’ development program of 2014/2015

The Justice Minister said it was from the judiciary that the people sought relief. Hence the judiciary should be independent and strong. “A strong and fair judiciary improves the economy of a country as well” he added.

He said that as at 2019 there was a backlog of 800,000 cases in Sri Lanka and only 335 judges to hear them. There were only 15 judges per one million citizens and steps had been taken to increase the number of judges to clear the backlog.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa as Minister of Finance had allocated Rs. 20 million from the last budget for upgrading infrastructure in the judicial service. Minister Sabry said that the introduction of a fully digitalised system was nearing completion and would be operative by February or March 2022.

President’s Counsel Sabry said that law reforms were necessary to respond to needs of the society in keeping with aspirations of the people and international best practices.

“The ultimate beneficiary of all the changes being introduced should be the people of this nation” he added.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Members of the Judiciary, Minister Dullas Alahapperuma, State Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, District Secretary Pradeep Rathnayake, Members of Parliament, Members of the Bar Association of Matara, members of local government institutions and government officials were among the dignitaries present at Kotawila.