Lanka forms parliamentary panel to probe top judge

The parliamentary select committee (PSC) on the motion of impeachment was officially announced here today by Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa.

The panel will be headed by Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, the Minister of Environment and comprises of at least five other cabinet ministers and a deputy minister who form the government representation.

The PSC has representative from four opposition members.

The panel would examine the 14-point impeachment moved against the first woman chief justice for her alleged professional and private impropriety.

Bandaranayake, 54, has refuted the allegations of corruption levelled against her after her ties with the government became strained.

The opposition brand the move a political witch hunt against the chief justice for her work to ensure the independence of the judiciary.

The friction with the judiciary and the executive surfaced when the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in late September issued a statement claiming interference on judicial independence.

On October 7, the JSC Secretary and judge Manjula Thilakaratne was assaulted by an unknown group in broad day light. The police remain unable to arrest any suspects.

When the case was taken up today in the Colombo suburban Mount Lavinia court, it was told that the vehicle on which the assailants had travelled bore a fake registration plate.

The police told the magistrate more than 450 vehicles of the same model and type were subject to scrutiny.