Kirikankanamalage Ariyasena vs D.M.C.P. Dissanayake – CA NO. 352/2000-2013

In the case between Kirikankanamalage Ariyasena (Plaintiff-Appellant) and D.M.C.P. Dissanayake alias D.M. Chandrika Priyangani Dissanayake (Defendant-Respondent), the court addressed whether a plaintiff holding legal title is entitled to eject a defendant occupying as a successor tenant cultivator under the Agrarian Services Act No. 58 of 1979. It was determined that statutory protections afforded to tenant cultivators, including succession rights and immunity from ejectment, apply where the register records lawful succession. Relying on sections 07, 5(1), and 45(3) of the Agrarian Services Act, the court held that the Defendant-Respondent could not be evicted so long as those statutory requirements were satisfied. This outcome underscores the primacy of statutory tenancy protection over a