Shirani Bandaranayake, the first woman to hold the office of top judge, had issued several decisions at odds with the government. Rajapakse dismissed her after a closed-door meeting with other judges on Saturday, according to a presidential spokesman.

The move came despite mounting calls on the president to halt the impeachment, which is seen by rights groups and Western nations as a blow to judicial independence in a country just emerging from decades of ethnic war.

Parliament voted on Friday to approve an impeachment report that last week had been quashed by the country's highest courts, which ruled that the process was unconstitutional. The United States and Britain expressed deep concern at the vote.

"The president this morning signed the letter removing Shirani Bandaranayake from the office of chief justice," Rajapakse's spokesman Mohan Samaranayake told AFP. "The letter was hand-delivered to her by a secretary accompanied by presidential security staff."