Rev. Kahatuduwe Hemasiri Thero and others Vs Rev. Howpe Somananada Thero – CA DCF 0407/1996-2021

In the case between Rev. Howpe Somananada Thero (later Walpola Piyananda Thero, Plaintiff–Respondent) and Rev. Kahatuduwe Hemasiri Thero (subsequently Mavussagolle Lankananda Thero and others, Defendants–Appellants), the court addressed the entitlement to the Viharadhipathiship of Sri Sudharmaramaya temple and the legal regime governing the temple property. It was held that the temple was subject to the Buddhist Temporalities Ordinance, No. 19 of 1931, and that succession to the office of Viharadhipathi was to be determined by the line of pupil succession (Shishshanushishaya parampanawa) in the absence of evidence of another method of appointment. This finding reaffirmed the principle that statutory presumptions and formal admissions constrain subsequent litigation and that the temple’s go