People’s Merchant PLC vs Udaya Saman Subhasinghe – SC CHC APPEAL NO. 14/2014-2014

In the case between People’s Merchant PLC (formerly People’s Merchant Bank PLC) and Udaya Saman Subhasinghe, the Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether an appeal against an order made under section 31 of the Arbitration Act could proceed when the appellant failed to obtain leave from the Supreme Court on a question of law as mandated by section 37(2) of the Act. The court held that leave to appeal, as stipulated by statute, had not been duly obtained and thus the Supreme Court did not possess jurisdiction to entertain the appeal or invoke its revisionary powers. This judgment reaffirmed the legal principle that statutory preconditions for appellate jurisdiction must be strictly observed, and constitutional provisions relating to appellate jurisdiction (Articles 127 and 128) do not ov