Officer-in-Charge, Police Station, Kirulapona vs Mereknknnage Kingsley De Costa – CA PHC 0039/2013-2021

In the case between Fowzul Insaf Nizam and Mereknknnage Kingsley De Costa, along with the Officer-in-Charge, Police Station, Kirulapona, and Ramalingam Udayakumar alias Mohomod Uwais, the Court addressed the issue of whether the Magistrate’s Court possessed jurisdiction to determine the right to possession under Section 66 of the Primary Courts’ Procedure Act and whether Fowzul Insaf Nizam had been unlawfully dispossessed, warranting restoration of possession. It was held that procedural delays in filing police information do not by themselves divest the Magistrate’s Court of jurisdiction where the breach of peace had only materialized later and objections to jurisdiction were not timely raised. The principle reaffirmed was that both actual and constructive possession must be determined by