Somalatha and Others v. Wickremasinghe and Others – sllr 2002 volume 2 page 347

In SOMALATHA AND OTHERS v. WICKREMASINGHE AND OTHERS, the court addressed whether a deed of gift, executed as irrevocable but without an explicit renunciation of the right to revoke, could be unilaterally revoked under Kandyan Law. It was held that revocation of such a deed is permissible under the Kandyan Law Declaration and Amendment Ordinance where there is no express renunciation as required by the Ordinance. The decision established that an irrevocable declaration alone is insufficient to preclude revocation absent explicit renunciation, reaffirming that the donor’s rights and procedural compliance under sections 4, 5, and 6 of the Ordinance govern such matters. The appeal was dismissed, affirming the District Court’s decision, and the court awarded taxed costs against the appellants.