Tributes

 

Wickremasinghe had his early education at St. Joseph’s College, Colombo. After finishing his London Matriculation examination, he proceeded to England to further his education in the field of law. He was called to the Bar in England in 1964 from Lincoln’s Inn and enrolled as an advocate of the Supreme Court of Ceylon in February 1966. He was appointed as Crown Counsel in 1969 and served as a member of the Attorney General’s Department till 1977. He resigned from the Attorney General’s Department and reverted to the Unofficial Bar and soon acquired eminence as a much sought after Defence Counsel.   

The 1980s were a transitional period in the legal profession of Sri Lanka. Consequent to the United National Party victory in 1977, a new Constitution had been promulgated and in view of the open economy policy of the then Government, many new laws were introduced by Parliament during this decade. Wickremasinghe until his death, was a student of the law and did not waste much time in studying the new legislation and adopting his practice as Counsel to suit the challenges introduced by such laws.   

The Bar in Sri Lanka was fortunate to have many legal luminaries as his contemporaries. A.C. De Zoysa (Bunty), Daya Perera, Eardly Perera, M.L.M. Ameen, Nimal Senanayake, S. Sivarasa, H.L. de Silva, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva, D.S. Wijesinghe and Ranjith Abeysooriya are some of the few such legal luminaries of that time.   

 

Wijesinghe was an extremely intelligent Counsel who always put in maximum effort in studying a brief. He was a vivid reader and could articulate a legal point with eloquence and in a simple manner.   

Having passed my finals at the Law College, I served my pupilage in the Chambers of Eardly Perera, PC. By that time I had made it known to Mr. Perera my intentions of joining the Attorney General’s Department to pursue my career in law. It was Eardly Perera and Priyantha Fernando, current High Court Judge of Gampaha who introduced me to the Chambers of the late Tivanka Wickremasinghe, PC, in 1985.   

 

Wickremasinghe was a brilliant Senior to work with and a great human being to know. Unlike many in the legal profession, his Chambers was open to many young law students going through their pupilage. His criterion for selecting an apprentice was not based on ethnicity, race, religion, the school or the economic standards of the apprentice. He never bothered to question us what school we came from or who our parents were. This humane quality in Wickremasinghe resulted in many young law apprentices seeking his guidance in the early part of the 1980s.   

As an apprentice in Wickremasinghe’s Chambers, we were not only taught about law but also about living one’s life. He was never selfish and shared his knowledge with all of us and I am sure, all those who devilled in his Chambers would agree that he was a fatherly figure to us.   

 

We were taught to be methodical, how to conduct a research, analyze a point and the art of advocacy among many other things.   

Helping the lesser privileged members of the profession was a passion that Wickremasinghe had throughout his life. I recall many instances where he would take photocopies of unreported Judgments, New Law Reports, Sri Lankan Law Reports, Statutes and other legal texts and distribute them among lawyers practising out of Colombo whenever he had the opportunity of visiting outstation Courts. I also observed that whenever he would appear in a Court outside Colombo, he used to retain the most Junior Attorney in that Court and pay him his fees.   

He treated us as children of his own and did not discriminate anyone.   

 

In 1987, I joined the Attorney General’s Department and somewhere towards the latter part of the year, I received a phone call from him conveying the news that the President had decided to appoint him as President’s Counsel. He was jubilant for many reasons. Some of his contemporaries who had studied law with him in England had been appointed as Silk by the Queen by that time and he was extremely happy on receiving this news.   

 

I still recall the large numbers of members of the legal profession who flocked to Hulftsdorp to see Wickremasinghe taking oaths as President’s Counsel. I am personally aware that in most outstation Courts the lawyers had obtained permission to proceed to Colombo without attending the sittings of the day.   

 

Wickremasinghe’s happiness was demonstrated through his expressions on that day where he took several photographs with the senior and young members of the Bar in the then lawyers’ lounge.   

We were all gathered in the then Supreme Court which is now High Court Number 1, for the ceremony. When the Registrar of the Supreme Court read out his name, he walked up to the podium, repeated the oath, signed the papers as PC, collapsed and passed away in the well of the Ceremonial Court as President’s Counsel.   

 

When I go through history, there is only one instance where such a tragedy had taken place. In 1604, Sir Francis Bacon took his oath as the 1st King’s Counsel of the English Bar, collapsed and died before taking his seat at the Inner Bar.   

As Juniors of the late Tivanka Wickremasinghe, we were dreaming of a fruitful future for this wonderful human being but destiny had different plans for him.   

The respect he commanded in the legal profession will be remembered by all his contemporaries and his students like me. 

However, the respect and the esteem that the late Wickremasinghe commanded from the Bench and the Bar could best be explained by the words of the then Chief Justice, S. Sharavananda at the Ceremonial sitting held on February 5, 1988, as a reference to the late Wickremasinghe.   

“It was only last Friday that all of us were assembled here to witness five Attorneys-at-Law taking their oath as President’s Counsel. Of the five, the late Tivanka Wickremasinghe was the third to be sworn in.   

I recall a vivid picture of him beaming with smiles and joy taking his oath and signing his papers looking forward to a new chapter of glory and success open for him as President’s Counsel. But Alas! Destiny had different plans for him. It snatched him away from our midst without any warning”.   

 

Nobody who had a glimpse of him that morning could have even remotely had any premonition that the cherubic face would cease its smile forever that morning itself and that no more would Tivanka Wickremasinghe be fighting doughty legal battles in the cause of his clients.   

 

The sudden death of Wickremasinghe has removed from our midst a gentleman who always fought a clean battle and who added lustre to the profession.   

Thirty years have passed since the demise of this late human being. However, the memories of this gentleman would continue to linger in our minds for many more years to come. His contribution to the legal profession, his warmth and hospitality, his simple unassuming ways would always be in our minds.   

Thank you, Sir, for making us what we are today. May you attain the Supreme Bliss of Nirvana.   

 

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DIG I.T. Canagaretnam

Humble, helpful and approachable

DIG I.T. Canagaretnam was popularly and affectionately known by his initials IT among his friends and relatives. He lost his father early on life. He had his entire education at St Michael’s College, Batticaloa and came under the moral, social and intellectual influence of great Jesuit priests like Fr S.J. Crowther and the legendary Fr. Harold Weber.

He left St. Michael’s soon after passing the Senior School Certificate exam and joined the Sri Lanka Police Force as a trainee Sub-Inspector. Thereafter, SI Canagaretnam served the Police Force with honesty, integrity and efficiency in many areas in the Island. He rapidly rose in the ranks of his chosen profession, as an Inspector of Police, Superintendent of Police, Senior Superintendent and then finally as Deputy Inspector of Police through sheer grit, hard work and efficiency in what could be described as a hostile or at best an unfriendly atmosphere. His greatness was self-made and God ordained. Despite his progress and achievements in his professional career, Canagaretnam always remained a humble, helpful and approachable man, ever ready to take up the cause of the weak and the vulnerable, and possessed with a great desire to serve the people of Batticaloa, with many plans for the development of the district.

I wish to recall two personal instances of his helpfulness. In the 1980s when rivalry among the different terrorist groups had reached its zenith and forcible recruitment of young Tamil into the different movements were rampant I had taken my young son away from Batticaloa and lodged him in Colombo for a while, when Colombo itself was alert to criminal elements among Tamil youth moving in to cause terrorist acts. As a retired DIG in the Police Canagaretnam was prepared to give written and verbal assurance of my son’s innocence to the relevant authorities in Colombo.

The second incident illustrates his efficiency and reputation as an honest police officer. IT had his own house opposite the Kotahena Police Station. I used to stay at College Street, Kotahena with my aunt whenever I visited Colombo at this time.

Once I gave a shirt to be washed at a laundry in Kotahena, forgetting that I had 3,000 rupees in the shirt pocket. When I realized my mistake, I went to the laundryman and explained to him what I had done. At first, he denied seeing any money in the shirt pocket I had given for washing. He even produced the shirt and showed the empty pocket. I was in a quandary as to what to do next. But when I gently told the man that DIG I.T. Canagaretnam was my neighbour in Batticaloa, the man quietly produced the money without a murmur. Not because IT had a reputation for using thuggery in remand cells but all knew him as a firm and honest officer. IT’s mother’s house was opposite our house at Central Road, Batticaloa, and he was married to Rita SantiaPillai whose parents were family friends, living down the same road.

IT had a great desire to contest the Batticaloa seat, to be elected the Member of Parliament for Batticaloa. He had no wish to be great by becoming an MP, he had already tasted greatness in his life, he simply wanted to serve the people of Batticaloa and contribute to the development of his beloved native place using his talents and experience. But that was not to be; probably because Batticaloa’s moral compass was not set right to select an honest and sincere native servant as its representative in Parliament.

Loyalty was IT’s hallmark. He remained absolutely loyal to his alma mater St Michael’s College, Batticaloa by usefully serving its Old Boys’ Association in many capacities.

May his soul attain the peace and tranquillity that it worthily deserves.

Shirley. W. Somanader
(Red.) Asst. Director of Education