Comply with SC ruling and enact new law-UNP

4 January 2013 11:52 am

The United National Party (UNP) today urged the government to introduce laws in line with the Commonwealth ‘Latimer House Principles’ on the removal of judges before going ahead with the impeachment motion.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said this was the best option for the government in the wake of the Supreme Court determination which declared that Parliament Standing Orders were not laws.

Mr. Attanayake said a framework of new laws could be introduced by enacting the Bill on the lines suggested by UNP MP Wijedasa Rajapaksa.
He said the UNP would oppose the impeachment motion if the Government went ahead with it.

Mr. Attanayake said the SC determination on Thursday had confirmed the ideas expressed by Opposition UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe with regard to the impeachment process.

He said several groups attacked Mr. Wickremsinghe instead of criticizing the government. These people were only touching the water in the sea of democracy instead of stepping into it.

He said it was UNP which had continued to safeguard democracy and the independence of the Judiciary.

Mr. Attanayake said the UNP members who represented the select committee refrained from appearing in the Appeal Court as the impeachment motion was a matter that had to be dealt with Parliament. He said none of the UNP members in the select committee applied for any redress in the petition filed in the Appeal Court. However, he said the party would make a further statement on Sunday with regard to the Supreme Court ruling. (Yohan Perera)