Sandhya Kanthi Ratnaweera vs Mercantile Credit Private Limited – CA 403/99 F-2013

In the case between Mercantile Credit Private Limited and Sandhya Kanthi Ratnaweera (with Subramaniam Palanisamy and another as guarantors), the court addressed the issue of whether the District Court of Colombo possessed jurisdiction to entertain the action, given the contention that the hire purchase agreement was executed in Kandy, and whether the district court’s judgment met the requirements of Section 187 of the Civil Procedure Code. It was held that the geographic location of the contract’s execution did not oust the jurisdiction of the Colombo District Court, and the trial judge correctly upheld jurisdiction in favor of the plaintiff. Furthermore, the appellate court found no irregularity or non-compliance with Section 187 of the Civil Procedure Code. This decision emphasized that