FOUR NEW PCs ACCEPT POSTS WITH DIGITAL SIGNATURES

Four attorneys currently serving as Additional Solicitors General (ASG) at the Attorney General's (AG) Department were sworn in as President's Counsel (PC) yesterday (November 20) during a ceremonial sitting of the Supreme Court.

- By Bhagya Silva

The ceremonial court of the Supreme Court complex carried an unusual sense of anticipation still solemn, still dignified, yet charged with the quiet weight of history in the making.

Four senior attorneys of the Attorney General's Department Additional Solicitors General HiranjanPeiris, AzardNavavi, LakmaliKarunanayake and Sudarshana De Silva were elevated to the rank of President's Counsel (PC) in recognition of their decades of service to the official bar.

After taking their oaths, the newly appointed President's Counsel approached the declaration table not to sign with pen and paper, but to place their signatures digitally. With four simple fingertip presses on a digital screen, they became the first group in Sri Lankan legal history to affix their signatures electronically upon appointment as PC.

Upon the conclusion of formalities, Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena underscored the significance of the transition.

“These appointees,” Cheif Justice stated, “will go down in the annals of legal history as the first to be inducted utilising their digital signature.”

Chief Justice’s comments did more than congratulate. They marked the moment as if placing a bookmark at the precise point where Sri Lanka’s legal system stepped with intention into the digital age. Under Chief Justice’s leadership, the judiciary’s push toward digitalisation found its symbolic turning point in the very act of these four officers accepting their highest professional honour.

Here begins the story of this year’s newly appointed President's Counsel, each bringing to the profession a legacy of dedication, experience and distinction.

President’s Counsel Hiranjan Indrajith Peiris:

His journey into the heart of Sri Lanka’s legal system began in the polished corridors of Royal College, Colombo where discipline and curiosity shaped the young student who would one day become an Additional Solicitor General.