Marasinghage Premasiri vs. C. I. Alagiyawanna et al. – CA WRIT/233/2022-2022

In the case between Marasinghage Premasiri (Petitioner) and C. I. Alagiyawanna, Sugath Galagamage, C. D. Wickramaratne, and the Attorney General (Respondents), the court addressed whether the Magistrate’s process in naming the petitioner as a suspect in an illegal excavation case was vitiated by illegality, irrationality, or procedural impropriety. It was held that the petitioner was not entitled to a Writ of Certiorari to quash the Magistrate’s order nor a Writ of Prohibition to prevent arrest. The findings reaffirmed that judicial review is confined to the legality of the decision-making process, not the substantive merits, and relief requires a demonstrable jurisdictional or legal defect. Reliance was placed on the governing constitutional provisions for prerogative writs and statutes i