M.A.Herath Banda and seven others vs A. V.Abeysekera and two others – CA NO. 564/98 F -2015

In the case between M. A. Herath Banda and others (Plaintiffs/Tenant Cultivators) and A. V. Abeysekera, D. A. Weerakkody, D. M. Jayatilaka, and others (Defendants/Landholders), the court addressed the issue of whether tenancy rights of the Plaintiffs persisted after the vesting of the disputed paddy land in the State, and whether the District Court possessed jurisdiction to grant declarations and injunctions concerning such tenant cultivator rights. It was held that disputes over such tenancy rights, in the context of lands vested in the Land Reform Commission and the State, must be adjudicated exclusively by statutory bodies constituted under the Agrarian Services Act and related statutes, not by common law courts. This determination relied on the provisions of the Agrarian Services Act N