Nandana Padmalal Lokubarana vs Land Commissioner General and others – CA WRT/0520/2023-2024

The case between Nandana Padmalal Lokubarana and state officials including K.D. Bandula Jayasinghe (Land Commissioner General) and W.M.C.K. Wanninayake (Provincial Commissioner of Lands) addressed whether the petitioner’s possession of disputed land was supported by a valid permit or constituted a temporary lease. The court held that the application for writs (Certiorari, Mandamus, and Prohibition) was not maintainable due to inordinate and unexplained delay and the pendency of a fundamental rights application in the Supreme Court concerning the same subject matter. This decision reaffirmed the principle that writ remedies are discretionary and may be defeated by laches, and that parallel proceedings on the same issues preclude jurisdiction. The court relied on precedents including Thajude