Centre for Eco-Cultural Studies and Fahima Sahabdeen v H.D. Ratnayake et al. – CNWRIT/370/2015-2015

In the case between Centre for Eco-Cultural Studies and Fahima Sahabdeen (Petitioners) and H. D. Ratnayake, Director General, Department of Wild Life Conservation, among others (Respondents), the issues addressed included the legality of the Department of Wild Life Conservation’s decision to terminate the rehabilitation of four Sloth Bears and transfer them to the National Zoological Gardens rather than reintroducing them to the wild, as well as the locus standi of the Petitioners to bring the action. The holding determined that the Department acted arbitrarily and contrary to statutory mandates under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance by not adequately justifying its departure from the rehabilitation policy and failing to consider conservation imperatives. The key legal principle re