PSC appoint Solicitor General and three Addl. SCs

By Susitha Fernando and Ranjith Padmasiri   

The Public Service Commission (PSC) has appointed a new Solicitor General, a Senior Additional Solicitor General and two Additional Solicitor General of the Attorney’s General Department.   

Senior Additional Solicitor General Ms. Dilrukshi Dias Wickramasinghe was appointed to the post of Solicitor General by the PSC while the Additional Solicitor General Sarath Jayamanne was promoted as the Senior Additional Solicitor General. Two Senior Deputy Solicitor Generals S. N. Balapatabendi and Sumathi Dharmawardena were promoted as the Additional Solicitor Generals.   

The new appointments at the AG’s Department, with effect from May 10, have come in the wake of the appointment of former Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya as the Chief Justice and the Additional Solicitor General Yasantha Kodagoda was appointed as the President of the Court of Appeal.   

Ms. Wickramasinghe PC was the former Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) while Sarath Jayamanna PC serves as the present Director General of the CIABOC.   
A senior criminal prosecutor President Counsel Jayamanna has prosecuted a number of criminal trials including Hokandara murder case, Kobeigane beauty queen murder case, High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya murder case and Mirusuvil massacre trial. A science graduate, Mr. Jayamanne was also instrumental in introducing scientific evidence such as DNA evidence and telephone evidence for criminal trials.   

Having joined the AG’s Department in 1994, Senior DSG Sumathi Dharmawardena was the Legal Consultant to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka from 2002 to 2009 and he drafted the Interconnection Regulations and assisted the regulatory process with regard to liberalization of international gateway in Sri Lanka in 2003.   

Mr. Dharmawardena is the Supervisor of Telecommunication Law, Information Technology and Air Law at the AG’s Department and contributed in drafting IT Laws and Telecommunication Regulations in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Appeal Board of the Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency.   

Senior DSG Susantha Balapatabendi counts 27 years in the Attorney General’s Department and practiced in the Criminal Division as both a Prosecutor and Special prosecutor for a period of 5 years prior to switching to the Civil Division. He holds a Master of Laws Degree in Commercial Law from the Queen Mary College, University of London, and The Associate Membership of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK.