Piyadasa vs Chandrawathie Dahanayake – CA NO.1048/98-2013

In the case between J.A. Piyadasa (Plaintiff-Appellant) and Chandrawathie Dahanayake, Simon Dahanayake, and Ranjith Dahanayake (Defendant-Respondents), the court addressed whether the District Judge’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s action was correct in law on the grounds that deeds Nos. 11682 (P4) and 5311 (P5) were null and void due to non-compliance with sections 3(1) and 3(7) of the Settlement of Debts Law No. 27 of 1975. It was held that the creditor’s failure to apply to the Conciliation Board within three months as statutorily mandated rendered the conditional transfer deed null and void, consequently defeating the plaintiff’s claimed rights. This decision reaffirmed the principle that clear and unambiguous statutory language must be given its plain grammatical meaning, with operative