Sri Lankan Airlines Ltd. v. Commissioner General of Labour & Others – CA WRIT/280/2022-2023

In the case between Sri Lankan Airlines Ltd. and the Commissioner General of Labour & Others, the court addressed whether cabin crew employees in Grades ‘C’ and ‘C1’ of Sri Lankan Airlines Ltd. are entitled to the budgetary relief allowance under the Budgetary Relief Allowance of Workers Act No. 4 of 2016. The court held that Sri Lankan Airlines Ltd. is exempt from liability for such allowances, determining that the company, although government-owned, was not “established by or under any written law” within the meaning required by statute. The holding reaffirmed the principle that majority government shareholding, without more, does not trigger statutory disqualification unless the entity itself is constituted by written law. Reliance was placed on statutory interpretation, constitutional