Wijenaike v. Air Lanka Limited and Others – sllr 1990 volume 1 page 293

Brief
In Wijenaiake v. Air Lanka Limited and Others, the court addressed whether the termination of the petitioner’s employment constituted an infringement of constitutional rights under Article 12(1), specifically regarding equality before the law and equal protection. The court determined that the petitioner’s dismissal was governed by contractual, not statutory, rights and therefore was not subject to constitutional review under Article 12(1). The reasoning emphasized that such employment disputes, absent clear statutory underpinning, are to be resolved by private law mechanisms such as the Labour Tribunal. The petitioner’s application was dismissed, with the legal principle reaffirmed that contractual disputes of this nature fall outside the scope of constitutional remedies, relying on