Shanmugaratnasarma Jegatheeswarasarma vs Secretary to the Treasury – CA WRIT 697/10-2015

In the case between Shanmugaratnasarma Jegatheeswarasarma and Jessiammah Jegatheeswarasarma (petitioners) and the Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs, and Attorney General of Sri Lanka (respondents), the court addressed whether a writ of Mandamus could compel the payment of compensation determined by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, following findings by the UN Human Rights Committee on the disappearance of the petitioners’ son. It was determined that the petitioners were not entitled to such a writ, as domestic legal remedies under Sri Lankan constitutional law were available but not pursued, and recommendations of the UN Committee do not have enforceable effect in Sri Lankan law absent explicit statutory incorporation. The principle reaffirme