The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) and the Law Council of Australia entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in Seoul, Republic of Korea, on the sidelines of the 39th LAWASIA Conference. The Memorandum was signed by Tania Wolff, President of the Law Council of Australia and Rajeev Amarasuriya, President of the BASL.

The Law Council of Australia, established in 1933 and based in Canberra, is the apex national body representing the legal profession of Australia.  It represents more than 107,000 Australian lawyers through its constituent law societies and bar associations together with ‘Law Firms Australia’. The Law Council of Australia represents the Australian legal profession on national and international issues, and promotes the administration of justice, access to justice and general improvement of the law.

The Memorandum was entered into promote cooperation and exchange between the lawyers of the two countries, and to facilitate the exchange of legal information and materials between the two professions, founded upon the mutual commitment of the Parties to the Rule of Law and to the independence of the legal profession and the judiciary.

The Supreme Court has dismissed three appeals by associations representing judicial officers, ruling that they are liable to pay income tax and that Advance Personal Income Tax (APIT) may lawfully be deducted from their remuneration.

The judgement, delivered on Sept. 15, 2026, concerned appeals filed on behalf of the High Court Judges’ Association, the Judicial Service Association and the Association of Judicial Officers of the Labour Tribunal. The cases challenged a 2023 Court of Appeal decision dismissing applications against the imposition and deduction of APIT from judicial officers.

The five-member bench comprised Chief Justice P. Padman Surasena and Justices A.L. Shiran Gooneratne, Janak de Silva, Mahinda Samayawardhana and Arjuna Obeyesekere.

The judicial officers had argued that they were not employees of the state or any other person, and that treating them as employees for tax purposes was incompatible with the constitutional principle of judicial independence. They sought to halt future APIT deductions and recover amounts already deducted.

Justice Janak De Silva held that the Inland Revenue Act did not create an employer-employee relationship between judicial officers and the respondents in the conventional sense. Instead, it recognised who paid their salaries for the limited purpose of identifying the party responsible for deducting APIT, the court held.

The SC ruled that the application of the Inland Revenue Act to judicial officers did not violate the Constitution, noting that the tax was generally applicable and non-discriminatory and did not amount to a reduction of judicial remuneration that would affect judicial independence.

Answering the key questions of law, the court ruled that High Court Judges, District Judges and Magistrates were liable to pay income tax on their remuneration, and that the authorities were entitled to deduct APIT from that remuneration.

However, the judgment acknowledged the financial difficulties faced by judicial officers following the imposition of income tax. Justice de Silva said the solution was not to exempt judges from a generally applicable tax, but to ensure that judicial officers were adequately remunerated in recognition of their responsibilities and their distinct position within the national wages policy.

The three appeals were dismissed without costs. Chief Justice Surasena and Justices Samayawardhana and Obeyesekere agreed with Justice de Silva’s judgement.

A three-wheeler driver was shot dead in a brazen afternoon shooting beneath the Dematagoda Black Bridge yesterday (17), police said.

The investigators suspected that killing may be linked to notorious underworld figure Mohamed Najim Mohamed Imran, widely known as ‘Kanjipani Imran’ operating from overseas.

The victim, a 50-year-old resident of Udugama, Galle, was killed with a pistol, according to Police Spokesman ASP F.U. Wootler.

The victim was rushed to hospital following the incident. However, police later confirmed that the three-wheeler driver had succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment.

Preliminary inquiries have revealed that the deceased had previously served in the Army.

According to police, the gunman is believed to have been travelling in the rear seat of the three-wheeler before opening fire on the driver.

Police suspected that the shooting was carried out by a hireling of Kanjipani Imran – a notorious underworld figure and drug kingpin operating from out of the country.

Police said that weapons and explosives had been supplied by Kanjipani Imran for the recent bomb incident at Dehiwala, where two children were killed in a grenade attack.

According to investigators, the weapons and explosives were supplied to another underworld figure known as ‘Kosmalli’ for the Dehiwala attack. Imran had also supplied narcotics to Kosmalli’s narcotic network, police said.

Further investigations are being conducted by police.