National Housing Development Authority vs Balangoda Wajiradeva Thero – CA PHC NO. 156/2014-2018

In the case between National Housing Development Authority (Plaintiff/Appellant) and Balangoda Wajiradeva Thero (Defendant/Respondent), the court examined the validity of an eviction order issued under the State Lands (Recovery of Possession) Act No. 7 of 1979. The central issue concerned whether the Provincial High Court’s setting aside of the Magistrate’s eviction order—on the ground of a discrepancy in land boundaries in the quit notice versus the court documents—was justified. It was held that the alleged discrepancy in boundary descriptions amounted to a clerical error in the certified copy, and the Provincial High Court had erred by failing to verify this by calling for the original record. The decision reaffirmed that procedural accuracy requires reliance on original records in the