Ranil Wickremesinghe, the main opposition leader urged Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa to postpone the debate saying the report of the select committee which found Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake guilty had not been tabled in parliament.
Speaker, the older brother of the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, suspended the sittings for 10 minutes before ordering the commencement of the debate by over ruling Wickremesinghe's objection.
Parliament convened mid afternoon after lawyers across the island staged a boycott of courts.
The district judges and magistrates in the provinces too joined in the boycott to protest the government move to sack Bandaranayake, 54 the island's first woman Supreme Court judge and Chief Justice.
The opposition activists and members of the lawyers' apex body, Bar Association gathered at the legal district of Hulftsdorp in Central Colombo to stage a march to parliamentary complex, a five mile distance.
However, the walk was abandoned as the police and "a set of goons" intervened to stop the march, organisers said.
The police armed with anti-riot gear and armed troops were stationed at Hulftsdorp preparing for a possible confrontation between the pro and anti-impeachment groups.
The pro-government and pro-impeachment forces staged a noisy protest in parliament's precincts shouting slogans against the lady chief justice.
The government insiders say a vote, to be taken tomorrow evening in parliament, would formally pave the way for the President Rajapaksa to issue the presidential decree removing Bandaranayake from office.
The move in parliament came in spite of the Appeal and Supreme Court ruling the select committee process illegal.
The courts urged framing of proper laws to try judges for misconduct.
However, the government held that parliamentary standing orders which provides for in the existing constitutional stipulations were adequate to impeach the chief justice.
The impeachment was the result of a simmering dispute between the judiciary and the executive arms of government.
