Senanayake Mudiyanselage Malkanthi v Adhikari Appuhamilage Don Rathnayake Bulugahawatta – CA WRIT/90/2019-2019

In the case between Senanayake Mudiyanselage Malkanthi (the debtor) and Adhikari Appuhamilage Don Rathnayake, Manelmal Arachchige Mahinda Mithrananda, and members of the Debt Conciliation Board, the court addressed whether the Debt Conciliation Board acted ultra vires by dismissing the Petitioner’s application under a procedural regulation imposing a 10-year time bar, despite section 19A(1A) of the Debt Conciliation Ordinance allowing debtors in possession to apply at any time. It was held that subordinate procedural regulations cannot extinguish or limit substantive rights expressly conferred by statute. Reliance was placed on principles distinguishing substantive statutory rights from procedural rule-making powers, reaffirming that an administrative board’s procedural regulations cannot