Court of Appeal President emphasises integrity, unity, and legal finality in closing remarks |30 April 2026

The following is the closing remarks of Court of Appeal President Antony Fernando following the April 2026 session:

“In my opening remarks at this session, I said that we have 12 appeal cases that are to be heard during this April session and that I sincerely believed that we will be able to conclude hearing in all the cases and deliver judgments in all 12 cases at the conclusion of the session and in that respect, that I expect the fullest cooperation of all lawyers and my colleague Justices. However, due to circumstances totally beyond my control, we were faced with a situation after Roll Call, where we nearly had to adjourn 4 cases. But due to adjustments made to the panels after the Roll Call at the last moment, we managed to hear 3 of the 4 cases but had no other option but to adjourn 1 case to the August session, which was marked ready at Roll Call. I sincerely hope that this would be the first and last time that such a thing would happen.The judiciary's duty to the law and its integrity takes precedence over personal relationships. We all have reasons to misunderstand people, but at the end we forgive and move on in the name of collegiality and the greater cause of justice. 

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