Ismalebbe v. Jayawardena, Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services and Others – sllr 1990 volume 2 page 199

In the case between ISMALEBBE (Petitioner) and JAYAWARDENA, Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services, and Others (Respondents/owners of paddy land “Vaddukaduveli”), the court addressed whether the proviso to Section 4(2) of the Agrarian Services Act, No. 58 of 1979, applied universally to every tenant cultivator who was also an owner cultivator of not less than five acres of paddy land or only within districts where a ministerial order under subsection (2) had been made. It was determined that restricting the application solely to such districts would result in irrational classification and violate Article 12(1) of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law. The legal reasoning emphasized that the proviso was intended to apply generally wherever the statutory conditions