There is a discussion among scholars as to whether the Malima government, which has a majority of more than 2/3 of the members of Parliament, enforcing the law against those in power who have committed wrongdoings regardless of rank can be enforce the law against former Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya for misinterpreting the Constitution and that it is not correct to interpret the Constitution as a 5-year term of office for the presidency before 18.07.2024, while confirms that the 22nd Constitutional Amendment Bill published in the Gazette on 18.07.2024.
The law should be enforced not only the presidents which retirements against their illegal acts committed during their term of office. It should apply to all 3 branches of government: the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.
In Article 3 of the Constitution, In the Republic of Sri Lanka sovereignty is in the People and is inalienable and sovereignty includes the ecxecutive, the legislative, the judicial powers and olso fundamental rights and the franchise as enshrined indicates the extent of the professional accountability, responsibility, and duty of office holders.
This article discusses whether the government, with a parliamentary majority of more than 2/3, can be able to enforce the law against former Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya for not correctly interpreting the Constitution, while the 22nd Amendment of the constitution Bill published in the Gazette on 18.07.2024 confirms that the incorrectly interpreted the Constitution as a 5-year presidential term as the law implemented against Commissioner General of Prisons Thushara Upuldeniya and former President of the Court of Appeal judge Bandula Karunaratne.
The 22nd Amendment of the Constitution Bill has been published in the Gazette issued on 18.07.2024 with the approval of the Attorney General, amending Article 83(b) of the Constitution and amending the matters of the term of office of the President from six years/6 to five years/5. The 22nd Amendment of the Constitution Bill has been published in the Gazette under Article 78 of the Constitution.
(There are differences between the Sinhala and English texts of this bill. This is because there are also differences between the Sinhala and English texts of the original constitution. It should be discussed at length with reference to Articles 3 and 23 of the Constitution. It has not been discussed in this article.)
The introduction of the 22nd Constitutional Amendment Bill makes it clear that the Constitution has not been amended in relation to the presidential term for 5 years. A President had publicly stated at a ceremony attended by heads of the judiciary and legal sector that it was an oversight by a certain legal scholar and that he would apologize to the people for it.
It is also clear that former Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya has misinterpreted the Constitution and interpreted the presidential term as 5 years.
Whether that future hopes cannot be said solely from his assumption of the post of Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations upon retirement.
It is also an irony of fate that former Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, who was interpreting the Constitution wrongly as the presidential term have been revealed due to the 22nd Amendment Bill, has been appointed as Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations after his retirement.
If former Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya had interpreted the Constitution correctly in the cases which brought before him regarding the presidential term, there would have been no need to gazette the 22nd Amendment of the constitution Bill to amend the presidential term to 5 years on 18.07.2024 under Article 78 of the Constitution.
The author of this article and another person who went to the Supreme Court to point out the constitutional errors regarding the presidential term were ordered to pay court fees in the millions.
On an earlier occasion, former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva had apologized to the public for a decision he had given.
The 22nd Amendment of the Constitution Bill published in the Gazette issued on 18.07.2024 with the approval of the Attorney General which amends Article 83(b) of the Constitution and amends the matters related to term of office of the President from 6 years to 5 years, confirming that the interpretation of the term of office of the President in the Constitution by former Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya as 5 years is incorrect.
The Constitution is the supreme law of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and has been adopted in accordance with the mandate of the people to establish Sri Lanka as a democratic socialist republic state as guaranteeing freedom, equality, justice, fundamental human rights and independence of the judiciary of all the people.
The executive, legislature and judiciary must act within the limits of the Constitution and interpreting the Constitution based on one’s own personal future aspirations is a violation of the affirn/oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.
It is still too early to say whether the “Malima” government will succeed in enforcing the law against those who have committed wrongdoing for some other purpose or purposes as whether the law will be enforced against former Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, who misinterpreted the Constitution and led to the introduction of the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution Bill, just as it enforced the law against Commissioner General of Prisons Thushara Upuldeniya and former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Bandula Karunaratne.
Scholars should also discuss why the Article 83 of the Sinhala Constitution states that, among the provisions of the Constitution relating to the executive presidency, that is, Articles 30 to 41 of Chapter VII of the Constitution, only amendments relating to the presidential term, that is, Article 30.2 of the Constitution, must be approved by the people through a referendum.
Article 83 of the Constitution does not state that it is necessary to obtain the approval of the people through a referendum to amend or repeal any other article relating to the Presidency other than Article 30.2 of the Constitution. That is, the only article related to the presidency included in Article 83 of the Constitution is Article 30.2.
Article 3 of the Constitution, which refers to the sovereignty of the people, refers to the existence of the executive as a governing body, but not to the presidency. Although Article 4.b. of the Constitution mentions the president elected by the people, that sub article is also not included in Article 83 of the Constitution.
That is, Article 83 of the Constitution does not directly indicate that the approval of the people must be obtained through a referendum to amend the constitution other than Article 30.2 relating to the presidency.
(This article does not intend to discuss this matter.)
The third edition of the 11th law book which published by the author of this article is also being printed in a limited number of copies, so readers can request a copy of ” A referendum being required to amend Article 70 of the Constitution in 2002, a referendum not being required in 2015, right to equality and judicial precedent”
ISBN 978-955-38965-6-8 which consists of 10 chapters including the judicial precedent, how the presidential election will be held in 6 years, if a “22” which gazetted on 18.07.2024 to amend Article 83 of the Constitution not becoming a law after the Supreme Court orders that imposed millions of rupees as court fees and which language of the Sinhala and English Constitutions, the Supreme Court should interpret the Constitution according to the sovereignty of the Republic of Sri Lanka.
Also, a legal education program discussing about how the presidential election will be held in 6 years, if a “22” which gazetted to correct the errors in the constitution not becoming a law after the Supreme Court orders that imposed millions of rupees as court fees and “Who Made the Mistake in the Constitution that led to the Gazette of “22”, will be held on Saturday, 21 June 2025 from 9.00 am – 3.00 pm at the Dr. Thilaka Padma Subasinghe Memorial Legal Education Program Lecture Hall, No 09, Colombo Road, Handapangoda, and the opportunity to reserve seats in advance has also been made available.
