Weerasinghalage Kusumalatha Vs. Range Forest Officer and others – CA PHC/116/2016-2016

In the case between Weerasinghalage Kusumalatha (appellant) and the Range Forest Officer – Puttalam and the Hon. Attorney General (respondents), the court examined whether the registered owner of a confiscated vehicle, previously used by her son to commit a forest offence, had fulfilled the statutory requirement under Section 40 of the Forest Ordinance to take all necessary precautions to prevent such misuse. The appellant’s vehicle was confiscated following conviction of her son for transporting granite illegally in a forest reserve, and both the Magistrate and High Court concluded that the appellant did not discharge the burden of proving that reasonable precautions had been exercised. The Court of Appeal upheld the prior decisions, holding that mere general instructions to the driver we