Sri Lanka's Attorney General has approved the draft of the proposed 22nd Constitutional Amendment, which seeks to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court and Court of Appeal judges.
The approval has been granted under Article 77 of the Constitution. Alongside the constitutional amendment, the government also plans to amend the Judicature Act No. 2 of 1978 (as amended) to raise the retirement age of High Court judges and judges of the lower courts.
Under the proposed amendment, the retirement age of Supreme Court judges will be increased to 67 years, while the retirement age of Court of Appeal judges will be raised to 65 years.
The accompanying amendments to the Judicature Act propose increasing the retirement age of High Court judges to 63 years and that of District Judges and Magistrates to 62 years, extending their service by two years.
Following the Attorney General's approval, the draft bills are expected to be published in the Government Gazette before being presented to Parliament one week later.
According to Minister of Justice and National Integration Harshana Nanayakkara, the primary objective of the amendments is to retain experienced senior judges in service to help reduce the country's court case backlog, which exceeds 1.1 million pending cases. The minister has also noted that while developed countries have between 40 and 60 judges per one million people, Sri Lanka has only around 20 judges per one million people.
However, Rajeev Amarasuriya, President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), has argued that such a constitutional amendment would require approval through a national referendum. He also questioned the transparency of the proposal, noting that eight existing vacancies in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal remain unfilled despite the move to extend judges' retirement ages.
In contrast, Cabinet Spokesperson and Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa has stated that there is no constitutional requirement to hold a referendum for the proposed amendment.
