Rupasinghe Arachilage Wijayasiri Perera v The Divisional Secretary & The District Secretary – CA WRIT APPLICATION NO: 119/2016-2021

In the case between Rupasinghe Arachilage Wijayasiri Perera (Petitioner) and The Divisional Secretary, Divisional Secretariat, Athanagalla, and The District Secretary, District Secretariat, Gampaha (Respondents), the court addressed issues arising under the Land Acquisition Act, primarily focusing on whether the petitioner was entitled to compensation or other remedies regarding various lots of land alleged to have been acquired by the State. The holding established that title to State land cannot be founded on administrative error or recognition by officials; only a competent court could definitively resolve such claims following a proper evidentiary process. The principles reaffirmed include the inability of administrative mistakes or provisional findings to create legally enforceable ri