Mrs. Malkanthi P. Gunawardena vs. W. M. M. B. Weerasekara and others – CA WRIT/151/2018-2022

In the case between Mrs. Malkanthi P. Gunawardena (plaintiff) and W. M. M. B. Weerasekara (Commissioner-General of Agrarian Development [Acting]), G. D. A. Swarnalatha, J. S. Edirisinghe, Cyril Premawardena, and Venerable Meedeniye Piyarathana Thero (defendants), the court addressed whether agrarian authorities failed to perform their statutory duties under the Agrarian Development Act No. 46 of 2000 by not taking legal action regarding the illegal filling of a “pillewa” adjacent to the plaintiff’s paddy land and the impact on her cultivation rights. It was held that while the “pillewa” was not conclusively established as “paddy land” under the Act, sufficient evidence demonstrated obstruction of cultivation rights, warranting a writ of mandamus. The principle reaffirmed is that statutory