Early life and education
Dep's father was Arthur C. Dep a police officer, who retired as a Deputy inspector general of police, Deputy Inspector General of Police. Educated at St. Joseph's College, Colombo, St. Joseph's College, Colombo, where he excelled in studies, athletics, rugby, and soccer. Dep obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Development Studies at the University of Colombo. He represented the university in rugby and cricket.Legal career
Studying law at the Sri Lanka Law College, he was called to bar in October 1976 and began his legal practice. In January 1978, he joined the Attorney General's Department (Sri Lanka), Attorney General's Department as a State Counsel. In February 1989 he was promoted to Senior State Counsel and in February 1996 he was promoted to Deputy Solicitor General and Additional Solicitor General in October 1999. He was appointed a President's Counsel (Sri Lanka), President's Counsel in April 2000. In 2007, he was appointed Solicitor General and served in this post till 2011. During his tenure in the Attorney General’s Department, Dep won a scholarship by the Dutch Government that enabled him to acquire a post-graduate diploma in international law at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. As a prosecutor he was involved in the Amarapala (Deputy Director of Customs) Murder case, Inoka Sevwandi Murder and the Sujith Prasanna Perera (Superintendent of Customs) Murder. He had served as the head of the Criminal Division of the Attorney General’s Department.Judaical career
In 2011, he left the Attorney General’s Department, when he was appointed to a Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. On February 27, 2017 he was nominated by the Constitutional Council as the 45th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka and was sworn in in March.References
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dep, Priyasath Chief justices of Sri Lanka Puisne Justices of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka Sinhalese judges 20th-century Sri Lankan people 21st-century Sri Lankan people Solicitors General of Sri Lanka Living people 1953 births Sri Lankan judges on the courts of Fiji Supreme Court of Fiji justices