Masa Arachchilage Jayantha Wickramasinghe and others Vs. Herath Mudiyanselage Kiri Banda – CA CASE NO. 427/1999-1999

In the case between Herath Mudiyanselage Kiri Banda (Plaintiff/Respondent) and Masa Arachchilage Jayantha Wickramasinghe and Manuel Peiris Waduge Newton Clarence Godwin Peiris (“M.J.R. Peiris & Sons”; Defendants/Appellants), the court addressed whether an ex-parte judgment and decree—granted after Defendants had not appeared—should be set aside on the ground that the 2nd Defendant was not duly served with summons. The holding established that mere reliance on the process-server’s report is insufficient to prove service of summons, particularly where the alleged recipient offers direct and unchallenged testimony to the contrary and the process-server is not made available for cross-examination. The legal principle reaffirmed is that the requirements under Section 86 of the Civil Procedure C