Eastern Province must function as a separate unit - SL Chief Justice

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2008, 10:53 GMT]
"Eastern province should continue to be separated from North. Eastern province is a very important province in Sri Lanka and will serve as an example to all other provinces in the country," said Mr.Sarath N Silva, the Chief Justice speaking in Batticaloa Saturday during the opening ceremony of a High Court and an appeal Court, sources in Batticaloa said. The event was chaired by High Court judge S.Paramarasa.

The excerpts from Mr Silva's speech follows:

"The culture and tradition of the people of East is entirely different from that of those from North. That was why I returned a verdict that East should be de-merged and function as a separate entity.

"My verdict was not meant to appease the politicians. Instead my verdict was based on my knowledge about East and its people.

"Today the power is being devolved more than what is mentioned in the 13th political Amendment. The administration of a region should be maintained by people from the very same region. Then only there will be permanent peace in the country.

"Today the judicial powers are shared .The people of East face various hardships in traveling to Colombo to have their cases heard in Colombo courts. This situation has now been changed and arrangements have been made for the cases to be dealt with in their own districts.

"Already High Courts have been established in Trincomalee and Batticaloa and another courts will be opened in Kalmunai Sunday," Mr.Silva said.