October 07, Colombo (LNW): Judges currently facing suspension in Sri Lanka will now receive only a portion of their regular salaries, with several standard allowances withheld, following a recent directive issued by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
The decision, which marks a tightening of policy regarding judicial officers under disciplinary review, was formally communicated via a circular dispatched to all High Court Judges by Prasanna Alwis, Secretary to the JSC.
This development comes in the wake of several suspensions involving judges who are the subject of ongoing inquiries into misconduct and other allegations.
The Judicial Service Commission has clarified that while these judges will still receive partial salaries during their suspension period, most discretionary financial benefits are to be suspended. The matter was discussed extensively during a recent meeting of the Audit and Management Committee of the Ministry of Justice and National Integration, where the terms of financial entitlements for suspended judicial officers were reviewed.
Following the deliberations, the committee resolved that only a limited set of allowances would be paid in addition to the reduced salaries. These include the professional allowance, personal allowance, cost of living adjustment, and language proficiency allowance.
Meanwhile, a broad range of other benefits—typically provided to sitting judges—have been explicitly withdrawn for the duration of the suspension. These include the telephone, vehicle, driver, book, housing or rent, fuel, and appeal-related allowances.
