President Maithripala Sirisena's continuous attack on the Constitutional Council comes weeks before its decision on the appointment of the next Chief Justice. 

Current Chief Justice Nalin Jayalath Perera who presided over a bench that delivered a historic ruling against the President's move to unconstitutionally dissolve Parliament is set to retire next month. 

Born in February 1954, Nalin Perera, the first career judge to be appointed the Chief Justice in decades, has almost reached 65, the retirement age for apex court judges. 

"It seems like the President is trying to influence the appointment of the next Chief Justice. His main obstacle at the moment is the Constitutional Council that will make the final decision on the matter," an informed source familiar with the matter told Asian Mirror.

"The President is apparently attempting to arm-twist the Constitutional Council into endorsing his preferred candidate as the next Chief justice," the source also added. 

The matters that are likely to come before the next Chief Justice are the eligibility of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to run for the Presidency for a third term and the eligibility of former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, a dual citizen who has now applied to renounce his US citizenship, to become a Presidential candidate. Although the 19th Amendment re-imposed the two-term limit on the Executive Presidency, supporters of the Rajapaksa camp argue that this provision does not have a retrospective effect. 

Delivering a scathing attack on the Constitutional Council yesterday, the President said the Constitutional Council had not given any reason for rejecting his nominations to the top judicial positions. 

"Some judges who have been rejected have come to me several times with appeals. I owe them an answer," Sirisena said describing the conduct of the Constitutional Council as "arbitrary". 

'I have no questions about the judges who have been appointed. I am only asking about the judges who have been rejected," he explained. 

Sirisena also added that criteria adopted by the Constitutional Council when it comes to key appointments remain vague and incomprehensible.