Justice Dr. Shirani A. Bandaranayake, a Senior Supreme Court Judge, took oath as the New Chief Justice of Sri Lanka before President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees today.New Chief Justice, the first woman to head Sri Lanka’s apex court was Associate Professor of Law and the Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, before appointment to the bench of the Supreme Court in October 1996. She was then the first women to be appointed to the Supreme Court, and was also first Sri Lankan woman to obtain a PhD in Law from a foreign university – the University of London in 1986.She heads Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court following the retirement of Chief Justice Asoka de Silva.Justice Bandaranayake has served as the Acting Chief Justice on 11 occasions.