W.K. Samarakoon vs National Water Supply and Drainage Board – SC FR NO.284/2013-2016

In the case between Senior Engineering Assistants (Civil) of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (Petitioners) and the National Water Supply and Drainage Board along with its officials and the 10th Respondent (Respondents), the court addressed the issue of whether the promotion procedures mandated by the Board’s circulars—specifically, the one-year validity period for interview results—were applied consistently and, if not, whether the Petitioners, having obtained the same marks as the 10th Respondent, were illegally or arbitrarily deprived of promotion. It was held that compelling the Board to replicate an earlier flawed promotion in favor of the Petitioners would require the Board to act illegally, which is impermissible. The principle reaffirmed was that a state authority canno