M.H.M.Benet Bandara et al. vs. Provincial Public Service Commission of the Uva Province et al. – CA PHC NO.182/2012-2012

In the case between M.H.M. Benet Bandara and others (Petitioners-Appellants) and the Provincial Public Service Commission of the Uva Province and others (Respondents-Respondents), the court addressed whether the failure to name all individual members of the Provincial Public Service Commission as respondents in an application for certiorari and mandamus constituted a fatal procedural defect, and whether amendment of parties at the appellate stage was permissible under the relevant Court of Appeal Appellate Procedure Rules. It was held that applications seeking writ relief against a collective decision-making public body require naming all persons responsible for the impugned decision as parties; omission of such persons is a fatal flaw not curable by late-stage amendments. This determinati