The Twenty Second Amendment to the Constitution has been officially gazetted, proposing to increase retirement ages for superior court judges and expand the Court of Appeal bench.
The government has formally published the Bill for the Twenty Second Amendment to the Constitution through a Gazette Extraordinary, introducing significant changes to the judicial retirement framework. The proposed amendment seeks to raise the retirement age for Supreme Court judges to 67 years, while setting the retirement age for Court of Appeal judges at 65 years.
Under the proposed changes, the Chief Justice would face a dual retirement condition, stepping down upon reaching 67 years of age or after six years in office, whichever comes first. This provision differs from the standard retirement framework applied to other senior judges.
The amendment also proposes expanding the judicial capacity of the Court of Appeal by increasing the maximum number of judges from the current 19 to 24 positions. The Minister of Justice and National Integration authorized the publication of the amendment for parliamentary consideration.
The gazetted bill now moves forward in the constitutional amendment process, which requires legislative approval to become law. The changes would represent a substantial modification to Sri Lanka's judicial structure and the terms of service for its highest-ranking judges.
