Ummu Jesseema Samsudeen vs Matale Municipal Council – SC APPEAL NO: 145/2010-2025

The Court of Appeal addressed a dispute involving a parcel of land described in various deeds and survey plans. The Plaintiff, Ummu Jesseema Samsudeen, Wife of Sahurdeen, sought a declaration of title and ejectment of persons occupying the land. The Defendants, comprising the Matale Municipal Council and its Municipal Commissioners, maintained that the land was vested in the Council since 1923 and that the Plaintiff had encroached upon Lot No. 172. The dispute centered on whether the Plaintiff had established clear paper title through the deeds (dated 1963 and 1931) supported by consistent survey evidence and whether she had acquired a prescriptive title through uninterrupted possession. Earlier proceedings in the District Court had found in favor of the Plaintiff, while the High Court had