As a result, the Justice Ministry is now planning to amend the Judicature Act to enable the cadre of high court judges to be increased to 95 from the present 75.

Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem told Daily Mirror the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) which did the initial work for the establishment of special high courts, had asked his ministry to take steps to increase the number of judges.

“We will give priority to amend the Judicature Act. We want to increase the cadre so that the backlog of cases can be cleared as soon as possible,” he said. The government had on an earlier occasion informed Parliament that charges could be filed against 700 hardcore LTTE fighters being held in the remand prison.

House Leader and Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told Parliament in May that some of the former LTTE cadres would be referred to rehabilitation centres.

Countries such as the United States and various international organisations including Amnesty International had urged the Sri Lankan Government to expedite litigation against ex combatants. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had also raised concerns about the delay.

Source: Daily Mirror - Sri Lanka