M. D. Sanjaya Asanka Somasiri et al. vs Commissioner General of Agrarian Development et al. – CA 57/2012-2014

In the case between M. D. Sanjaya Asanka Somasiri, M. D. Dhanushka Samanpriya, and H. D. Chandrawathie (Petitioners) and the Commissioner General of Agrarian Development, the Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Development, and additional respondents (Respondents), the court addressed whether the Petitioners were entitled to a Writ of Certiorari to quash orders made under the Agrarian Development Act No. 46 of 2000 relating to alleged obstruction of an agricultural roadway and threshing floor (‘kamatha’). The principal legal issue was whether long-standing user rights established by oral evidence and agricultural practice could override the lack of such rights in title deeds and non-registration in official records. The court held that the statutory protection of user rights for cultivation