Herath and Others vs. Thawalingam and Others – sllr 2021 volume 1 page 494

Brief
In Herath and Others v. Thawal-ingam and Others, the court addressed whether the selection and placement of surveyors in the Bim Saviya programme priority list—based on “effective work progress” and prior experience as set out in the guidelines—contravened the fundamental right to equality guaranteed by Article 12(1) of the Constitution. The petitioners, licensed surveyors, argued the computation methods and selection criteria were arbitrary and led to unjust placement in a lower work category, impacting opportunities for assignment. Following detailed review, it was held that the classification and computation were applied reasonably and uniformly, with no evidence of arbitrariness or violation of equality. The court reaffirmed that administrative classifications made under clear an