COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s government voted on Friday (Sep 25) to increase the mandatory retirement age of all judges by two years as part of reforms opposed in parliament and by the influential bar association.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake unveiled two bills last month as part of wider judicial reforms he said are needed to reduce legal delays in hundreds of thousands of cases.
The bills also seek to increase the number of courthouses, create new appellate courts outside the capital and recruit additional magistrates and staff to speed up trials, as well as the recruitment of 10,000 police officers.
Opposition legislators wore black in protest against the two bills before Friday’s vote.
Raising the retirement age of judges required a two-thirds majority in parliament in order to amend the constitution, and 158 MPs in the 225-seat assembly voted in favour.
The two-year extension will now apply to 411 judges in Sri Lanka.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa accused the government of turning the judiciary into a pawn of the executive.
“Attempting to control our country’s noble, free and independent judiciary through a constitutional conspiracy is a shameless and despicable act,” Premadasa told parliament.
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