Judicial independence not a privilege vested in individual judges: CJ View(s):By Ranjith PadmasiriJudicial independence is constitutionally recognised as an intangible heritage of the people, preserved through successive generations as a safeguard of dignity, equality, and freedom. It is not a privilege vested in individual judges, Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena stressed. Justice Surasena made these remarks in his keynote address at the commencement of the two-day annual conference of the Sri Lanka Judicial Services Association (JSA), comprising Magistrates and District Judges serving throughout the island. Judicial power is neither personal nor institutional property, but an inalienable manifestation of the sovereignty of the people, exercised through courts pursuant to Article 3 of the Constitution, the CJ stressed. Judges, he observed, function not as proprietors of power but as its trustees, accountable to the citizenry whose confidence sustains the legitimacy of the judicial process.

Source: Sunday Times December 28, 2025 11:36 UTC