Perumbda Pejjalage Jayantha Vs. Commissioner General of Agrarian Development and others – CA WRIT/NO.778/09-2021

In the case between Perumbda Pejjalage Jayantha (Petitioner) and, among others, the Commissioner General of Agrarian Development and P.P. Kularatne (Respondents), the court addressed the issue of whether the Commissioner General possessed lawful authority under Section 77(1) of the Agrarian Development Act No. 46 of 2000 to annul and remove the Petitioner’s name from the Agricultural Land Register as tenant cultivator, and whether the principles of natural justice and statutory procedures were observed. It was held that the Commissioner General acted within statutory powers under Section 77(1), which does not require a prior inquiry or hearing before invalidating such registration, particularly where the original entry was procedurally defective. The principle reaffirmed is that statutory