Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has formally requested the Speaker to establish a Parliamentary Select Committee to gather proposals for resolving Sri Lanka's mounting court case backlog, following a suggestion from former President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has submitted a formal request to Parliament's Speaker seeking the establishment of a Parliamentary Select Committee tasked with collecting proposals to expedite the resolution of the country's substantial backlog of legal cases. The initiative represents a cross-party effort to address delays within the judicial system.
The proposal emerged following discussions held on July 23 at the Opposition Leader's Office between Premadasa and former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who jointly chaired the meeting. According to reports, Wickremesinghe advised Premadasa to pursue the formation of such a committee during their discussion, which had been convened partly in response to concerns raised by SLPP MP Namal Rajapaksa regarding the extension of judicial officers' tenures. The meeting was framed around safeguarding democracy, the rule of law, and judicial independence.
Parliamentarians from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), the main opposition party, formally signed a resolution endorsing the proposal before it was submitted to the Speaker. The committee, if established, would be responsible for gathering recommendations and proposals from various stakeholders on how to accelerate judicial proceedings and tackle the extensive backlog of pending court cases that has long been a challenge for Sri Lanka's legal system.
This initiative represents one of the latest opposition-led attempts to address systemic inefficiencies within the judiciary and improve the overall functioning of the country's legal institutions.
