Justice J. Asoka N. De Silva of the Supreme Court took his oaths as the new Chief Justice in the presence of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Janadipathi Mandiraya, today (08).

He succeeds Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva as the 32nd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. The new Chief Justice who was the most senior member of the Supreme Court bench till the retirement of the former Chief Justice last week, has 37 year experience in practice of the law.

Sworn in as an Attorney at Law in 1972, he joined the Attorney General’s Department in 1974 and was appointed a senior State Counsel in 1981. He was later appointed Deputy Solicitor General in 1988 and Senior Deputy Solicitor General in 1995.

Mr. De Silva was elevated to the Court of Appeal as its president in 2001 and in the same year was appointed to the bench of Supreme Court. He has also served on the International Court of Justice on the invitation of the UN.

A student of St. Anthoney’s College, Kandy, Mr. De Silva is a graduate of the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo. He also studied law in the University of London and the Institute of Development Law, Rome, and has followed post graduate studies in law in the USA.