Deputy Minister of Power and Renewable Energy Ajith P Perera said that the government will not at any point interfere with the independence of the Judiciary as well as with the independence of the Attorney General’s Department.
Speaking to the Sunday Observer the minister emphasized the importance of upholding the rule of law and ensuring there is no delay in serving justice.
“The need of the hour is to ensure that allegations are properly investigated and they are adjudicated to bring offenders to the task.
We will fail in achieving this if judicial action is delayed. It is encoded in the rule of law that justice should not be delayed.” The minister said.
The government will take steps to ensure that hearing time of cases is reduced in the near future in order to keep its promise to the people.
“The current Justice Minister has failed to address these long standing issues and as a result has attracted negative feedback resulting in the current status quo,” the Minister said.
The minister made these comments in response to comments made by the justice Minister, Wijeyadasa Rajapakse in Anuradhapura, yesterday.
Speaking at the event Minister Rajapakse said that it is depressing to see people suffer from Kidney disease and the relevant authorities failing to address the issue.
“For the past four months in the district of Anuradhapura 14000 kidny patients were recorded in and 127 kidney patients had died during the past seven months,” he said.
He further questioned the Anuradhapura political authority on their failure to attend to these issues and bring about solutions to the people in the area. The minister further promised the people and the chief monk that he will immediately draw the attention of the president to the existing circumstances in the area.
He also went on to point out that the health ministry has failed to address these issues citing that the Health Minister was more involved in matters that falls out of his purview.
“Last few weeks he (the health minister) has been very much involved in the SAITM issue and now he has taken upon himself to administer the Attorney General’s Department. He is trying to administer the courts system.
Therefore he doesn’t have any time to attend to the work in his ministry,” Minister Rajapakse said.
Speaking further he stated that the current coalition government came to power to build good governance ‘yahapalanaya’, and that Yahalapanaya doesn’t mean the engaging in corruption or turning a blind eye on such corrupt activities.