Four ASGs to take silk

• The position of the PC is a professional rank or a status conferred by the President of the country under Article 33(cc) of the Constitution

Four Additional Solicitor Generals (ASG) from the Attorney General’s (AG) Department were appointed as President’s Counsel by  President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. 
Four senior members of the official bar -- ASG Hiranjan Peiris, ASG Azard Navavi, ASG Lakmali Karunanayake, and ASG Sudarshana De Silva are to be sworn in as President’s Counsel (PC) -- which is known as taking Silk -- at a ceremonial sitting of the Supreme Court soon. The President  appointed four senior officers who had served the AG’s Department for around 20 to 30 years, following their promotion to the position of ASG. 
The position of the PC is a professional rank or a status conferred by the President of the country under Article 33(cc) of the Constitution. According to the Constitutional provision, attorneys-at-law who have reached eminence in the profession and upheld high standards of conduct and professional rectitude may be appointed as President’s Counsel by the President.
The newly appointed President’s Counsel will take oaths before the Chief Justice on a date to be fixed for the ceremonial sitting.
Hailing from Royal College Colombo, Additional Solicitor General Hiranjan Indrajith Peiris has been at the AG’s Department for the last 30 years. A student of Royal College Colombo and sworn in as an attorney-at-law in June 1992, he joined the AG’s Department in 1995. During his three-decades long career at the AG’s Department,  Hiranjan had been supervising the criminal and civil divisions of Sabaragamuwa and North Western provinces and Negombo, Matale, Chiaw and Puttalam circuits. He was promoted as  ASG in July 2024.
As his professional training, ASG Hiranjan has undergone forensic investigation training in Korea and has represented the AG’s Department at the conference on the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) on a Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. 
A student of  Trinity College, Kandy, Azard Navavi studied at Sri Lanka Law College and started his career as a State Counsel joining the AG’s Department in 1998.
A proud product of St. Bridget’s Convent, Colombo 7, ASG Lakmali Karunanayake has been serving at the Attorney General’s Department for the past 27 years. After graduating with a first class honours at the final year examination at the Law College of Sri Lanka,  and admitted to the Bar as an Attorney-at-Law in December 1997, Lakmali Karunanayake joined the Attorney General’s Department in 1998 as a temporary acting State Counsel. She has obtained a diploma in Transitional Justice and Human Rights from the International Centre for Transitional Justice Cape Town, South Africa,  in 2006,  and she has a Master of Laws (LLM) in Public International Law from the University of Colombo 2014. 
ASG Karunanayake has successfully prosecuted some  well known trials including:
Sandanam Pitchey Mary Theresa alias Kudu Theresa’s trial (2004), Kotakethana double murders (2012), the Delkanda five murders case, and the Medalanda Walawwa procuration case.

A student of Royal College, Colombo,  ASG Sudarshana De Silva has a Masters in Law and has served in a number of High Courts around the country including the Colombo High Court. Admitted to bar in 1996, Sudarshana de Silva joined the Attorney General's Department in 1999. He was promoted as a Senior State Counsel in 2009, Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) in 2018, Senior DSG in 2023 and ASG in 2025. ASG De Silva holds a LLB, LLM and had served as Puisne Judge in Fiji Islands from 2013 to 2015.

Appointed as Judge Advocate of Sri Lanka Air Force in October 2022, ASG De Silva is a member of the AML/CFT unit and Bribery Unit and head the Proceeds of Crime Unit.