Equal Access to Justice for All

The legal Aid Commission has undertaken many ambitions, projects to achieve the above vision.

• To establish centers in courts island-wide to give legal aid for litigation and render assistance in other related matters to the needy, the deserving and the downtrodden.

• To appear in Supreme Court in cases of rights violations – via the Human Rights Bureau of the Commission.

• To exchange the activities of the Development Legal Aid Units – Units for Migrant Workers, the Elderly, the Internally Displaced, Migrant Workers, Children Protection & Prisoners.

• To conduct Legal Aid Clinics, Legal Awareness & Training Programs for Public, Prisoners, the Police, Lawyers, School-children, the Otherwise-Abled, Migrant Workers, and  Persons.

• To give legal advice to the public via Legal Aid Pages in the Daily News and Lankadeepa.

The Legal Aid Commission is a statutory body established under the Legal Aid Law  No.27 of 1978 and is mandated to provide legal assistance to economically disadvantaged persons.

The Legal Aid Commission consists of 3 members appointed by the Minister of Justice and 6 members nominated by the Bar Council of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. One member as the Administrator of the Legal Aid scheme.  The Legal Aid Advisory Council, an advisory body, established under the Legal Aid Law is chaired by the Chief Justice and consists of thirty member including the nine members of the Commission.

In terms of the law the objectives of the Commission shall be to operate through out Sri Lanka an efficient Legal Aid Scheme to provide to deserving persons-

(a)  Legal advice;

(b)  funding  for the conduct of legal and other proceedings for and on behalf of such persons;

(c)  obtaining the services of Attorneys-at-law to represent them;

(d)  arranging such other assistance as may be necessary for the conduct of such proceedings.

Members of the Commission

·       Mr. S.S.Wijeratne, AAL (Chairman/Administrator)

·       Mr. Manohara de Silva, PC (Member)

·       Mr. Upali Gunaratne, AAL (Member)

·       Mr. Rohan Sahabandu, AAL (Member)

·       Mrs. Kamalini de Silva, AAL (Member), Additional Secretary Ministry of Justice & Law Reforms

·       Mrs. Swarna Perera, AAL (Member)

·       Ms. Lilanthi de Silva, AAL (Secretary)

 

Legal Aid Commission Centres in Sri Lanka

Regional Legal Aid centres have been established in the following areas to provide legal aid -

New Centres Established  by LAC in 2006

Centres Established by LAC before 2006

Legal Representation

The Commission provides free legal representation in all the courts in the island by engaging the services of lawyers who are members of the panel of lawyers of the Commission, and such lawyers are paid and honoraria according approved scheme of payment, by the Commission. Assistance is generally granted with regard to matters relating to Maintenance, Divorce, Money-(damages ,accidents) land disputes, bail applications, Appeals and Labour Tribunals.

The Commission activities relating to these priority areas are conducted in different settings. According to the nature of the setting, these activities can be further categorized under the following components.

They are:

·       Providing direct legal assistance to people in the community

·       Providing assistance to prisoners

·       Providing Legal aid training for law apprentices and conducting other awareness  
    programmes for those who are in the legal field

List of Developmental Legal Aid Desks in the Legal Aid Commission 

(Chairman - S.S.Wijeratne)

01.   Anti-corruption Desk – Ms. Harshani Balaharuwa, Ms. Yasodha Waidyaratne and          Ms. Prasadi   Navaratne, Legal Officer.

02.   Apprentice Tranning Program & Bench & Bar Desk – Ms. Damayanthi Dissanayake, AAL

03.   Child Rights’ Desk – Ms. Mahesh de Silva, AAL

04.   Consumer Protection Desk – Ms. Lasanthi Palapathwala, AAL.

05.   Disabled Persons Desk – Ms. Kalani A Medagoda, AAL.

06.   Elders’ Rights Desk – Ms. Pradeepa Nilmni, AAL

07.   Human Rights Bureau - Acting Head, Mr. Nuwan Peris, AAL

08.   Internally Displaced Persons Desk – Ms. Kirija Nimalatheva

09.   Migrant Workers Desk – Ms. Lilanthi Kumari, AAL

10.   Prisons Desk – Ms. Thushari Sakunthala, AAL

11.   Protection of Women’s RightDesk- Ms. Priyangika Aththanayake, AAL

12.   Public Officers Awareness Desk – Mr. Reginold Kumarasiri, BA, MA, MSSC.

13.   School Program & Essay Competition – Ms. Yamuna Kumari, AAL

14.   Labour and Industrial Disputers Desk – Ms. Achchini Adhikari, Legal Officer.

Eligibility to receive aid

A means test is applied in the grant  of legal aid and at present a person who is in receipt of a monthly income of less than Rs 6000/=  is eligible to receive legal aid.

Legal Aid Fund

A fund created under the Legal Aid Law receives a Government grant of Rs 1.2 million .The accounts are audited annually by the Auditor-General.