Sri Lanka’s parliament approves constitutional amendment to extend judge terms  

COLOMBO, Sept 25 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s parliament approved an amendment to the island nation’s constitution on Friday to extend superior court judges’ tenure by two years as part of measures to clear a large backlog of cases and reduce prisoner numbers after deadly prison riots. 

• Delayed proceedings, which ​often drag on for years, have fuelled a crisis ​across Sri Lanka’s prison network, where 22 facilities built for about 11,000 inmates now hold more than 41,000 — including ​thousands of remand prisoners yet to be tried.

• The move follows two recent prison riots that killed 31 people, including 10 ​prison officials, and injured dozens more.

• The amendment seeks to reduce a backlog of an estimated 1.1 million court cases, according to the country’s justice ministry.

• The 22nd amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution was approved with a two-thirds majority by the 225-member house.

• The constitutional amendment ​will extend the tenure of Supreme Court, Appeals Court and High Court judges and of the Chief Justice by two years each.

• A separate draft bill ​to extend the tenure of district and magistrate judges by two years was approved as well.

• Bimal Rathnayake, Leader of the House, told lawmakers ahead of the vote: “This constitutional amendment is purely to support judicial reforms. This is why there isn’t any significant protest from the masses.”

• Sri Lanka’s main opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, wore black to parliament and protested the amendment, contending that it undermined judicial independence.

(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; Editing by Toby Chopra)