Paraketawella Diddenigoda Gedara Niranjan Padmakumara et al. vs. Jaltotage Don Keerthi Wickramaratne et al. – CA PHC APN. 61/2016-2016

In the case between Paraketawella Diddenigoda Gedara Niranjan Padmakumara and others (private complainants), Officer-in-Charge, Police Station, Kadugannawa, and Jaltotage Don Keerthi Wickramaratne and Naotunna Rajaguru Bamunuge Dileepa Anuradha Edirisinghe of Bluebay Mineral International (Pvt) Limited, the central issue concerned whether the Magistrate acted correctly under Section 98(b) of the Criminal Procedure Code No. 15 of 1979 in ordering the suspension of a factory’s operations on grounds of public nuisance, and whether such an order necessitated a conditional order as prescribed by law. The holding established that the Magistrate’s and High Court’s orders were not defective, and a shutdown order could be maintained for public interest, notwithstanding procedural technicalities. Th