SC to decide on challenge to AC ruling in 1993

The Supreme Court granted special leave to appeal in a case which was filed challenging a ruling of the Appeal Court with regard to the closing down of several business premises at Rankothvihara in Panadura on the request of the Panadura Urban Council.

The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Nimal Gamini Ameratunge (presiding), Chandra Ekanayake and Priyasath Dep granted the tenants special leave to proceed after considering the questions of law, namely abuse of judicial process. The case which was originally initiated in 1993 before the Panadura Magistrate had taken many judicial rides for nearly two decades.

At the outset the former U.C.

The case which was originally initiated in 1993 before the Panadura Magistrate had taken many judicial rides for nearly two decades

Panadura Chairman Lenin Fernando obtained an order on May 12, 1993 to close down several business premises at Rankothvihara in Panadura on the basis that they are not fit for human habitation. The order to close shop had only cited the name of the owner and did not mention the names of the tenants.

Challenging the Appeal Court ruling, the tenants filed an appli- cation in the Supreme Court seeking special leave to appeal.

Senior Counsel Kumar Arulanandam PC, who supported the application for the petitioner tenants, stated that the owner had connived with the Urban Council to get a closing order against the owner himself in order to evict the tenants. He contended that it was an abuse of legal process and the order of the Court of Appeal was against the spirit of the judgments of the Court of Appeal. He further said that the Additional Magistrate did the correct thing when he stayed the closing order since the tenants should have been included as parties in the closing order application. The injury or damage is to his clients, the tenants, he added. He ended his submission in a touchy contemporaneous note, “Your Lordships and Ladyship, People pray in churches and here in court I pray for justice for my clients”.

The Supreme Court granted special leave to appeal and fixed the case for May 31, 2013. L. M. K. Arulanandam PC with R. Y. D. Jayasekera and V. M. S. Dharmasiri appeared for the petitioner tenants while Ranjan Suwanderatne appeared for the respondent, the owner.