Management Service Officers’ Association of Sri Lanka Overseas Missions v. Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage et al. – CA WRIT/0556/2021-2021

In the case between Management Service Officers’ Association of Sri Lanka Overseas Missions, Jayantha Dissanayake, and Aruna Dasanayake (Plaintiffs) and Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage, Foreign Secretary, and others (Defendants), the court addressed whether experienced public management assistants, who previously served in overseas Sri Lankan missions, are lawfully excluded from applying for competitive examinations for overseas postings, and whether such acts by the Foreign Secretary or the Public Service Commission (PSC) can be challenged by writ in the Court of Appeal. The holding determined that the substantive exclusion derived from a PSC decision, not merely the Foreign Secretary’s recommendation, and that under Article 61A of the Constitution, such PSC decisions are excluded from t