Y.I.D. Goonawardena vs. W.A.D.Piyasiri – CA PHC/APN/105/2019-2022

In the case between Y.I.D. Goonawardena, Additional Agrarian Development Commissioner, and the Hon. Attorney General (Applicants), and W.A.D. Piyasiri (Respondent), the court addressed the issue of whether the Provincial High Court had jurisdiction to convert an appeal into a revision application in matters arising under the Agrarian Development Act No. 46 of 2000, absent a specific statutory right of appeal. It was held that the High Court Judge erred in law by exercising revisionary jurisdiction without clear statutory authority and in the absence of exceptional circumstances. The principle reaffirmed is that revisionary jurisdiction is discretionary and granted only in instances of legal miscarriage or exceptional injustice. This decision relied on statutory interpretation of the Agrari