Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Priyan Benildus Fernando vs. Hon. Attorney General – CA WRIT 590/2023-2025

In the case between Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Priyan Benildus Fernando and Hon. Attorney General), the court addressed the issue of whether the belated indictment and punitive orders against the Plaintiff, absent new corroborative evidence, constituted an abuse of prosecutorial discretion and a breach of natural justice. It was determined that the protracted delay in indicting the Plaintiff without substantive new evidence, along with procedural improprieties such as the lack of proper notice and opportunity to respond prior to the imposition of measures like a travel ban and arrest warrant, rendered the decisions arbitrary and unlawful. The decision reaffirmed the principle that prosecutorial discretion, despite its breadth, is circumscribed by constitutional and administrative law safe