Kanagaratnam Pirabakaran v. Attorney General – CA 58/2010-2016

In the case between the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Attorney General) and Kanagaratnam Pirabakaran, the court addressed the issues of (1) whether a High Court Judge, other than the one who originally recorded a guilty plea, is empowered to impose sentence when the initial judge becomes unavailable, (2) whether procedural timeframes under the Code of Criminal Procedure Act regarding the withdrawal of a guilty plea obligate the High Court to allow such withdrawal after conviction, and (3) whether non-compliance with Section 203, related to the timeliness of sentencing, affects the validity of the sentence. It was held that the statutory provisions concerning these matters are directory and not mandatory, thus non-strict adherence does not vitiate the proceedings. The principl