Joseph Asoka Nihal De Silva (born 17 May 1946) was the 42nd Chief Justice of Sri Lanka.
Silva obtained his primary education from
St. Anthony's College, Kandy. After graduating from
University of Peradeniya
The University of Peradeniya ( si, පේරාදෙණිය විශ්වවිද්යාලය, ta, பேராதனைப் பல்கலைக்கழகம்) is a Public research university, public university in Sri Lanka ...
in 1971 he joined as an advocate of the Supreme Court in December 1972. He joined the Attorney General's Department on 2 April 1974. He became a Senior Deputy Solicitor General on 1987 and after serving 22 years in the Attorney General's Department he was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal on 12 October 1995. Chief Justice Asoka De Silva became the President of the Court of Appeal in February 2001 and later elevated to the Supreme Court on 1 August 2001.
On 31 July 2013 he was appointed as a member of the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board in Kenya, a body established under Kenya's new Constitution to rid the Judiciary of unsuitable judicial officers.
Asoka De Silva has obtained a master's degree in administrative law in 1983/84 from the University of Colombo and has done a postgraduate diploma in criminology at the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
in the United States.
Services
*Lecturer in
Sri Lanka Law College
Sri Lanka Law College (abbreviated as SLLC), formerly known as Ceylon Law College, is a law college, and the only legal institution where one can enroll as a attorney-at-law in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1874, under the then Council of Legal ...
*Lecturer in Faculty of Law,
University of Colombo
(Buddhih Sarvatra Bhrajate)
, mottoeng = ''Wisdom Enlightens''
, established =
, endowment = Sri Lankan rupee, LKR 1.461 1,000,000,000 (number), billion
*Represented Sri Lanka at the
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil
*Member of the National Task Force to formulate the National Environmental Policy
*
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as a permanent judge by the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan on 3 August 2004. He served ICTR as one of the 16 permanent judges in the tribunal in Trial Chamber II.
See also
*
List of St. Anthony's College, Kandy alumni
*
Chief Justice of Sri Lanka
*
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Silva, Asoka
1946 births
Living people
Alumni of St. Anthony's College, Kandy
Sri Lankan Roman Catholics
Chief justices of Sri Lanka
21st-century Sri Lankan people
Presidents of the Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka
Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka judges
Puisne Justices of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
Sinhalese judges