R.A. Prageeth Jaliya Jayathilake vs Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC – CA/PHC/APN/0085/2023-2024

In the case between R.A. Prageeth Jaliya Jayathilake (Authorized Officer, National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol Act), the Public Health Inspector (Municipal Council, Colombo), and the Hon. Attorney General’s Department (Complainant-Respondents) and Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC and D.S. Gunasekara (Pvt) Ltd. (Accused-Petitioners), the court addressed whether section 34 of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol Act required the display of pictorial warnings on large cardboard boxes used for cigarette transportation, and the extent to which ambiguity between the Act’s Sinhala and English versions affected compliance. It was held that, following clarification from the Court of Appeal regarding the Act’s correct interpretation, the prior reliance on the English text amounted to a misin