The Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara, Attorney-at-Law - Minister of Justice and National Integration
The Minister answered a question on the Permanent High Court-at-Bar, citing Section 127C(1)(a) of the Judicature (Amendment) Act, No. 9 of 2018 and stating it commenced on 4 July 2018. He provided case statistics for the two courts, including pending and concluded matters, and listed currently active cases with next hearing dates. He said the Government expects to re-establish the FCID and anticipates more bribery and corruption cases, while seven additional High Courts are planned, including five at Hulftsdorp, to function as trial-at-bar or single-judge courts to expedite proceedings.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, the answer is as follows:
¶ 02 (a) (i) Section 127C(1)(a) of the Judicature (Amendment) Act, No. 9 of 2018. (ii) 4th July 2018. (iii) - Permanent High Court-at-Bar No. 01: Pending cases – 02 Concluded cases – 04 - Permanent High Court-at-Bar No. 02: Pending cases – 02 (including Mahindananda Aluthgamage bail matter as Case No. 01) Concluded cases – 01 (iv) Cases filed by year before Permanent High Court-at-Bar: - Court No. 01 / Court No. 02 2018: 3 / 2 2019: 2 / 2 2020: – / – 2021: – / – 2022: – / – 2023: – / – 2024: 1 / – 2025: – / 1
¶ 03 (b) (i) No. As per letter dated 10.02.2026 from Permanent High Court-at-Bar No. 1 to this Ministry, the currently active cases are as follows: Case No. – Next Date 1. HC/PTB/01/05/2019 – 26.03.2026 2. HC/PTB/02/01/2025 – 11.02.2026 3. HC/PTB/02/01/2019 – 11.05.2026
¶ 04 (ii) The Government expects to re-establish the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) of Sri Lanka Police and, under the Bribery Act, the Director-General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption to file a substantial number of cases. Pursuant to the Judicial Service Commission letter dated 29.09.2025, one court has commenced and another is proposed to be established. As I explained yesterday, five new High Courts will be set up within the Hulftsdorp court complex and two more outside, totaling seven additional High Courts. These will be equipped to sit either as a trial-at-bar (three-judge bench) or as single-judge High Courts as necessary, to expedite proceedings, with the aim of operationalizing by mid-year.
¶ 05 (c) Does not arise.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Friday, 20 February 2026 ·No. 23331 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara, Attorney-at-Law - Minister of Justice and National Integration. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 20 February 2026. No. 23331. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/29872