President’s Counsel Kaushalya Nawaratne has resigned as President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) with immediate effect, sources said.

The five-member-Special Committee appointed by the Bar Council of the BASL to the controversial BASL- JICA issue had found that BASL President Kaushalya Navaratne PC failed to act with transparency in relation to the contract entered into by the BASL with JICA and violated the trust reposed in him as the President of the BASL.
On May 18, 2024, the BASL Bar Council appointed a five-member-committee to look into allegations pertaining to the BASL project funded by the JICA relating to the promotion of a transparent and competitive business climate (Anti-Corruption) in Sri Lanka, as a Committee of Inquiry.