Hettiarachchi v. Seneviratne, Deputy Bribery Commissioner and Others (No. 1) – sllr 1994 volume 3 page 290

In Hettiarachchi v. Seneviratne, Deputy Bribery Commissioner and Others (No. 1), the court addressed whether the Cabinet possessed the authority to appoint the Deputy Bribery Commissioner under Article 158 of the Constitution, despite a prior delegation of that power to the Public Service Commission, and whether the Cabinet was bound by its own public service recruitment and promotion Circulars. It was held that Article 158 expressly empowers the Cabinet to make such appointments notwithstanding any prior delegation, and that the Cabinet is not bound by Circulars directed at lower-level public service officials. The principle reaffirmed is that constitutional authority vested expressly in the Cabinet cannot be limited by subordinate instruments such as Circulars. The decision relied on the