Gunasekara vs Premalal – CA NO.410/98-2013

The case between Samarappuli Mudiyanselage Gunasekara (Substituted-Plaintiff-Appellant) and R.A. Wijith Premalal (1st and 2nd Defendant-Respondents) addressed whether the District Judge of Kuliyapitiya erred in dismissing the plaintiff’s claim for partition by raising and deciding on additional issues after the main issues were settled, without affording parties an opportunity to respond. It was held that while a trial judge is permitted under Section 149 of the Civil Procedure Code to frame issues at judgment, the procedure was improperly applied when new issues concerning identification of the land were raised and adjudicated after the corpus had already been accepted as undisputed. The decision reaffirmed principles of procedural fairness in partition actions, emphasizing that parties m