The Hon. Arjuna Sujeewa Senasinghe, Attorney-at-Law
Noting that fundamental rights filings in 2026 were very low, Arjuna Sujeewa Senasinghe warned that the year could record the lowest annual intake if the trend continued and said this may indicate reduced access or deterrence among practitioners. He urged the Minister to convey concerns to the Chief Justice about access to court and the decline in filings. He also referred to Senior President’s Counsel Rienzie Arsakularatne’s view that judicial promotions should follow proper procedure and seniority to avoid politicization.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Thank you, Minister. Your limits are noted. However, 2026 filings are very low (25 in five months), suggesting practitioners are deterred. If for the remaining seven months there are only about 35 more, this would be the lowest annual FR intake in our history—a troubling sign of a police-state tendency. I urge you to convey these concerns to the Chief Justice regarding access and the sharp fall in filings.
¶ 02 Senior President’s Counsel Rienzie Arsakularatne, who served the Bar Association, advocated that judicial promotions follow proper procedure and seniority to avoid politicization. Thank you for the data; I bring this to the attention of those in authority.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Friday, 22 May 2026 ·No. 23666 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Arjuna Sujeewa Senasinghe, Attorney-at-Law. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 22 May 2026. No. 23666. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/16994