“I remember Indira as the good girl amid the naughty ones eating stringhoppers in the school hostel dormitory and scattering them all over,” reminisced  Lakshmi Gunasekera. She was speaking at a special Felicitation held on Saturday, 30^th June 2012 at the N.C.C. club organized by the “Visakhian Batch of 1959” for their classmate Mrs.Padmini Indira (nee Senaratne) Samarasinghe who was recently appointed Legal Draftsperson.

Lakshmi recalled working together with Indira in their professional capacity to erase the stigma attached to the Angoda Mental Hospital whose inmates were referred to as “Pissu”(mad), as the lawyers tried to update the “Mental Health Ordinance”.

“I remember Indira as being very good in sports. She was a good runner and was also very lively. She also had beautiful handwriting,” said Mrs.Damayanthi Rajapakse who is now Sectional  Head of the G.C.E.(Ordinary Level) classes at Visakha Vidyalaya. 

“Indira was always very methodical and systematic. She was helpful and a good team player.  She was also fun-loving.”recalled Mrs.Ramani Polwatte Wickremasinghe who was Branch Manager of the Hatton National Bank.

There were over fifty past Visakhians present and the President of the 1959 Batch, Mrs.Kumudu Mendis, presented a Plaque which said “Heartiest Congratulations. We are proud and delighted by your appointment.”  She spoke a few words and commented,”Indira, your honesty and integrity will help you contribute to the legal profession and improve the law of the land.”

“Indira is the eldest of six children so we know how responsible she is.”remarked another batchmate.

“I am very happy to be here as it brings back sweet memories of school. I thank the organizers who are my friends and colleagues and I wish to give a donation,”said Indira. She later told the “Daily Mirror” that she intends training the staff of the Legal Draftsperson’s Department and that it wouldn’t be an easy job.

Indira has a Masters’ degree in Law from the Monash University in Australia after completing her LLB at the University of Colombo. She has a Post-Graduate Diploma in International Law and Organization for Development from the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague. She also has a Diploma in Commercial Arbitration awarded by the Institute for the Development of Commercial Law and Practice.

She served the Legal Draftsman’s Department for 33 years.  She assisted in the Revision of Legislative Enactments 1980 Edition under the authority of the Ministry of Justice, Sri Lanka.

Indira has been a Visiting Lecturer at the Sri Lanka Law College for the past 27 years. She has participated in Legislative Drafting Programmes at the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation conducted in Sri Lanka. She was the President of the Women Lawyers’ Association of Sri Lanka and member of the Executive Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka.

By Sirohmi Gunesekera