S.A. Sunil Jayathilake vs Co-operative Employees Commission – CA PHC/169/2016-2022

In the case between Multi Service Co-operative Limited of Mahawa (and its key functionaries) and the Co-operative Employees Commission (and its members), the court addressed whether responding parties could be discharged from contempt of court proceedings where it was alleged that compliance with an order—previously declared ultra vires by the High Court—had been compelled. The court held that the High Court erred in discharging the respondents from contempt charges on the technical basis that no direct order was addressed to them. The ruling reaffirmed the principle that persistence by an administrative authority in enforcing an order declared ultra vires constitutes an affront to the administration of justice and is amenable to contempt proceedings. Reliance was placed on established doc