COLOMBO, Aug 4 - Sri Lanka's cabinet on Tuesday approved a constitutional amendment that would extend superior court judges' tenure by two years, an official said, as the country seeks to clear a backlog of more than 1 million court cases and ease the pressure on its overcrowded prisons.
Themovefollowstwo recent prison riotsthatkilled 31 people, including 10 prison officials, and injured dozens more. One prisoner died and nine inmates were injured in a riot on Saturday at Mahara prison, about 15 km (9 miles) fromthecommercial capital Colombo.
The two-pronged proposal will introduce a 22nd amendment to the constitution that will extend the tenure of Supreme Court, Appeals Court and High Court judges and of the Chief Justice by two years each, said cabinet spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa. The judges in these courts currently retire at 65, 63 and 61 respectively.
A separate draft bill, which also received cabinet approval, seeks to extend the tenure of district and magistrate judges by two years as well.
"The aim is to increase the efficiency of cases being heard and provide relief to the public, who often have to wait 12 or 20 years," Jayatissa told reporters at the weekly cabinet briefing, adding that the government also wanted to increase the number of courts and judges overall.
Sri Lanka's justice ministry has backed the constitutional changes as part of a wider effort to strengthen the judicial systemandclear a backlog of 1.1 million pending court cases.
Sri Lanka's opposition and lawyers have opposed the bill, saying it would undermine public perceptions of judicial independence and lacks a consultative framework.
Samagi Jana Balawegaya, the main opposition party, on Tuesday proposed setting up a special parliamentary select committee to identify procedural measures to resolve legal cases faster.
Delayed proceedings, which often drag on for years, have fuelled a crisis across Sri Lanka's prison network, where 22 facilities built for about 11,000 inmates now hold more than 41,000 — including thousands of remand prisoners yet to be convicted.
(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
