Punchi Banda vs. Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Yaso Menika et al. – 267/1999-1999

In the case between Lansakara Kulatunga Mudiyanselage Punchi Banda (Plaintiff-Respondent) and Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Yaso Menika and others, with Ratnayake Mudiyanselage Karunaratane Banda (6D Defendant-Appellant), the court addressed whether the non-substitution of legal representatives for deceased defendants during a partition suit rendered the District Court proceedings and judgment null and void, considering the requirements of the Partition Law, No. 21 of 1977 and its 1997 Amendment. It was determined that, in the absence of substitution for deceased parties and where no share was allotted to them, the proceedings could not be saved or regularized by the statutory provisions, thereby invalidating the judgment. The principle reaffirmed was that participation by all parties or their