Basnayake Kariyapperumalage Nihal Rupasinghe vs The Air Force Commander and M.H. Karannagoda – CA APPLICATION NO.679/2008-2011

The case between Basnayake Kariyapperumalage Nihal Rupasinghe (Plaintiff) and the Air Force Commander, Air Force Headquarters, Colombo and M.H. Karannagoda, Air Vice Marshall, Director of Administration, Air Force Headquarters, Colombo (Defendants), addressed the issue of entitlement to pension and military benefits following a service-related injury. It was held that the petitioner was not entitled to benefits under the Air Force Pension Scheme as the injury was found to result from a misfire of the petitioner’s own weapon rather than enemy action, and that the minimum service period requirement for pension eligibility was not fulfilled. The principle reaffirmed was that judicial review of administrative decisions is confined to the scrutiny of legality and rationality, not a re-evaluatio