Sri Lankan government reinstates controversially impeached chief justice

Sri Lanka's controversially impeached chief justice was reinstated Wednesday as the country's new government attempts to deliver on election promises assuring independence of the judiciary, an official said here.

Sri Lanka's 43rd Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayaka was controversially impeached by the government of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in late 2012 and removed from her position in January 2013.

Rajapaksa also swore in loyalist Mohan Peiris as the 44th chief justice of Sri Lanka but the appointment was never accepted by the Bar Association, which is the country's largest coalition of lawyers, and the Supreme Court that held the impeachment process as flawed.

Two years later Rajapaksa was ousted from power in a surprise election defeat that handed over the country's top post to his former Cabinet member Maithripala Sirisena.

One of Sirisena's key election promises was that he would reinstate Bandaranayaka though he voted for her impeachment in parliament as part of Rajapaksa's government.

"The president and the Cabinet have asked Chief Justice Mohan Peiris to step down. As he can never be legally chief justice, this allows for Chief Justice Bandaranayaka to return," Xinhua news agency quoted Bar Association president Upul Jayasuriya as telling reporters.

Badaranayaka returned briefly to the Supreme Court complex in the capital and was greeted by cheers. She will ceremoniously conduct a sitting before resigning Thursday making way for a new chief justice, Jayasuriya noted.

Senior Supreme Court Justice K. Siripavan is tipped to be appointed as the next chief justice and is likely to take oath Thursday.