Former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva said that the President does not have the ability to remove the Governors, and if he does so, a resolution of two-thirds of the Provincial Council should be passed.
As reported by some media, he stated this in an inquiry made by ‘Mawrata’ regarding the notice given by the President to the governors to leave.
The former Chief Justice also said:
Provincial councils were established under the 13th constitutional amendment. Provincial Council elections in Sri Lanka continued since then. According to the law, provincial council elections were scheduled to be held in October 2017. But the United National Party, which was in power at that time, brought a 2-page bill to Parliament saying that women’s representation should be increased. Although it was passed in the second reading, an amendment was brought to add 20 more pages to the bill and included the provincial council election. I also filed a case against it in October 2017. That day Mr. Sumanthiran went to court against me. Anyway, my request was rejected.
But until today there are no provincial councils. There are no chief ministers. There are no provincial council members. There are only governors. According to Article 154/B, Governors are appointed by the President. That situation has been confirmed by the constitution. According to Article 154/B/5 the term of governors is 5 years. In that section, it is stated that ‘the post should be held for a period of 5 years from the date of assuming the post’. If the governor is removed in any case, two-thirds of the provincial council can pass a resolution and advise the president to remove the governor. Even if it is given, the governor can be removed only if the president is in favor. In that way, the position of governor has been secured by the constitution.
Now there are no provincial councils so there are only governors. So they cannot be removed without a proposal from the provincial council. The position becomes vacant only if he resigns. The former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed these governors. He is a popularly elected president. The current president is a successor president. So the question arises as to whether a successor president can remove the governors appointed by the popularly elected president.
The next thing is that the media has reported that 4 governors will be removed. Then what about the governors of other provinces? Will they be removed? The former Chief Justice also said that a question about equality of law arises here.