On 24th February 2021, Saliya Peiris PC was elected as the 26th President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) with overwhelming support of the Bar. He secured 5162 votes which is 84% more than the votes secured by Kuvera De Zoysa, PC.
Dr. K. Kanag Isvaran PC, Mr. Faisz Mustapha PC, Mr. Rienzie Arseculeratne PC, Mr. Palitha Fernando PC, Mr. Anil Silva PC and Professor Wasantha Seneviratne proposed Mr Saliya Peiris for the post of President of BASL. His nomination was seconded by Mrs. Shiranthi Gunawardena, Mr. Sanjaya Gamage, Mr. Hemaka Senanayake, Mr. Sanath Wijewardena, Mr. Rasika Dissanayake and Mr. Shivan Coorey.
The Election was held in 85 Bars across the country and the following are data of 10 Bars (where vote count is more than 100) where Saliya Peiris PC secured majority votes.
| Bar | Saliya Peiris PC | Majority Votes(in excess of other) |
| Colombo | 2,416 | 1,270 |
| Anuradhapura | 61 | 20 |
| Galle | 151 | 94 |
| Gampaha | 114 | 14 |
| Kaluthara | 77 | 25 |
| Kandy | 158 | 23 |
| Kurunegala | 192 | 149 |
| Matara | 176 | 114 |
| Mt. Lavinia | 71 | 33 |
| Panadura | 74 | 27 |
| Total (10 Bars) | 3,490 | 1,769 |
| Total (85 Bars) | 5,162 | 2,355 |
Saliya Pieris P.C. heads his Law Chambers, practicing in the areas of Criminal law, Public law and Fundamental Rights in the Appellate and Original Courts. He has been an advocate for the strengthening of human rights, a strong and independent Bar in Sri Lanka and consistently stood for the Rule of Law and the Independence of the judiciary. He played a prominent role in the lawyers’ campaign against the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake of Sri Lanka. He is a lecturer in law and has contributed many papers and articles on law and politics. He holds a master’s degree in international business law from the University of London. He is an Eisenhower Fellow. He studied at St Joseph’s College Colombo from 1973 to 1987 and was the head prefect in 1986-1987
In an exclusive interview with Colombo Times, the newly elected President of the BASL Saliya Peiris PC shared his views on the land slide victory at the election, “I think several factors led to my victory at the BASL elections. I had a large support from across the profession from juniors to seniors and from ranging from members of the Bar who had different ideologies. Lawyers with different political ideologies supported me and believed that I stood for an independent Bar. So, the support showered on me is cut across political lines, cut across other divisions and that was the key. I can also confidently say that vast majority of juniors in the Bar supported me and this trend you can identify even in the outstations”.
He further shared “I would like to thank everyone for the confidence in me and the support I have received was overwhelming. It is important the support was given despite so many attempts to retract them with misinformation and distortion and I am happy that the Bar thought beyond. I don’t want to dwell on what happened but at the same time for those who supported me I must say, thank you for the support and loyalty. Further, for those who stood by me, my message is that now we must move on and we must build upon what we have achieved. Especially with the juniors in the profession, they have shown they are capable of taking independent decisions. I see a lot of potential and I would like to tap in to into their potential. I would invite them to be involved with the affairs of the BASL so that we establish a strong and independent Bar and ensure that it is beneficial to each of the members”.
Saliya Peiris PC shared insights into many pertinent areas. Excerpts of the interview are as follows.
Q1. The Bar has set the bar high in relation to expectation. What are the initial actions or measures you intend to take in line with your manifesto?
A1 “I assume office at end of March 2021. We will of course have to set up the Executive Committee and the Bar Council will elect the Executive Committee. Thereafter, we have to set up the various special committees with the concurrence of the Secretary, BASL and the Executive Committee. We will have these special committees to look at particular areas which we have promised to set up. For instance, I intend to set up a committee for women lawyers, for lawyers in the corporate sector and the state sector. Also, I intend to establish a special committee for infrastructure. We will also strengthen the existing committees. I want to get a number of young lawyers involved in the work of the BASL and then we will see a change in the contribution of the legal community to the activities of the BASL”.
Q2. During the Pandemic, we saw limitations in court functioning and also the requirement for a process to ensure safety of those involved. Your view on certain paths that may be adopted to ensure continuity in future.
A2. “Of course, now the court of Appeal and the Supreme Court has resumed hearings. There are certain rules that has been made so that the Courts are allowed to operate remotely. The problem is in the trial courts it’s not possible to operate remotely. This is not something BASL alone can resolve but certainly BASL will support the proposals from the Judiciary and as well as the Government Authorities on how best to act in such a situation. We will also have a consultation to assess and give ideas as well to the Judiciary”.
Q3. In your view is there a lack of awareness in relation to Legal Rights. What steps are taken or can be taken to create awareness?
A3. “There is a general lack of awareness on the Law. This is also an area we have discussed in our manifesto. One thing is that the BASL for a long time has had the National Law week. But I think we have to go beyond the National Law Week to have a sustainable way of creating awareness of the Law.
It might be BASL might consider proposing to the authorities whether law should be part of the school curriculum. Of course, this is for the longer term.
Certainly, creating legal awareness among the public is something that we will focus on and I certainly think that it is important to create greater awareness at the younger level, students, University students etc”.
Q4. Safeguarding the rights of the members was part of your manifesto What is your thought process around this and how do you propose to ensure this?
A4. “Lawyers practicing criminal law face numerous issues. We need to step up to give effect to indicate our rights. For instance, the right of access to Counsel at police stations and prisons and the need to preserve confidentiality and where those are not preserved, I think the BASL should proactively step in.
There are some series of issues in the Land Registry and already the present Secretary of the BASL has taken an initiative in this regard and we will see now how we can strengthen that initiative. There is also the Lawyers rights in the courtrooms itself especially at the Registries in Courts.
Q5. Please elaborate on measures to be taken to safeguard the right of the females in the profession.
A5. “My proposal is to set up a committee for women lawyers within the BASL and we want to ensure that the committee can take positive actions to ensure that female lawyers reach their potential. We recognize that there are certain drawbacks which women face and issues which are exclusive to women and we want to address that.
Further it is a bit of an ambitious proposal, but we want to set up a Day Care Centre at Hultsdorf which will assist women lawyers and parents. Let us see how we can implement this.
There is also pressure on the attire of women lawyers which is unresolved and in the balance for a long time and we would like to see that resolved.
The committee we intend to set up will also take up the grievances of the women lawyers and, will gather proposals from women lawyers on areas that we need to address to uplift their position. One thing I want to emphasize is that we want to strengthen the rights of the women’s lawyers. This election reflects that we had wide support from women lawyers across the country. I am truly thankful for the confidence and we will ensure that women’s rights are safe guarded”.
Q6. What would your message be to the junior Bar members and aspiring lawyers?
A.6 “One thing I would like to say is that we understand especially juniors have faced many issues during the COVID pandemic, there was loss of income, loss of work and so that would be our top priority to see how we can address this.
Also, we want to look at the professional development to strengthen the juniors and we have suggested to start the mentorship program to try to support the juniors in the profession.
Then again on aspiring lawyers, things can be done as they enter the profession, we have certain ideas on how the Bar can support them.
The Bar cannot directly support them financially, but we have certain suggestions to provide assistance in relation to income protection, insurance etc.
We also suggested to establish a trust fund for all lawyers (not only Juniors) so for emergencies we can support those who face such emergencies through the trust fund. that would be one of the things that I would like to establish in my term.
(Interviewed and compiled by Rifka Ziyard MBA, FCMA, CGMA, FTII, B com)
