COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- An official says Sri Lanka's bar association will ask President Mahinda Rajapaksa to reconsider an impeachment bid against the country's chief justice. The news follows a rare general meeting of the legal association to discuss threats to the independence of the judiciary.

Bar association president Wijedasa Rajapaksa, who is no relation to the president, said a general meeting was held Saturday after nearly 24 years.

The body represents Sri Lanka's lawyers, with some 13,000 members. Government-allied parties have leveled charges of hidden wealth and misuse of power against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.

They came after Bandaranayake ruled that a proposed bill was against the constitution.

Bandaranayake has denied the charges against her.