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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 10300697" data-attributes="member: 92282">The expanding power of the executive headed by an all powerful President  is fast eroding the independence of the Sri Lankan judiciary, a top  international lawyers’ body has warned. Especially worrying are the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which  gave sweeping powers to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the proposed 19th Amendment that limits the Chief  Justice’s term to five years and gives the President to appoint the  secretary to the judicial services commission (JSC), the London-based  International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute said in a  statement.    “We believe that it is by providing judges with a  permanent or long-term mandate that their independence will be  maximized, as will public confidence in the judiciary’, said Sternford  Moyo, IBAHRI Co-Chair. ‘We do not consider the five years proposed by  the 19th Amendment to equate to appropriate security of tenure. Further,  we are concerned that the appointment of the Secretary to the Judicial  Services Commission, a key judicial institution, will make it vulnerable  to political influence, perceived or otherwise,’’ he said.Rajapaksa has come under criticism for increasingly concentrating powers in his hands in all spheres of public life. “We  consider the 18th Amendment to be far inferior to the 17th Amendment,  in terms of the important provision of checks and balances. We are  concerned that presidential control over the Parliamentary Council  (constituted through the 18th Amendment) significantly reduces the  possibility of independent scrutiny of appointments to public  institutions, including the Judicial Services Commission,’ commented  Hans Corell, IBAHRI Vice-Chair.“As Sri Lanka moves to build a sustainable peace and to maintain  public confidence in the fair administration of justice, we invite the  Government to send out a clear message that it is committed to ensuring  strong and independent institutions,’’ Corell added. “The Government’s continuing failure to fully implement the 17th  Amendment and re-establish the Constitutional Council has reduced public  confidence in its commitment to independent institutions and the rule  of law,” the IBAHRI had concluded after a fact-finding mission to Lanka  in 2009.<a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/srilanka/Lankan-govt-taking-control-of-judiciary/Article1-705231.aspx" target="_blank">hindustantimes</a></blockquote>

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