Mercantile Investments Ltd. v. J.A. Sumith Adhihetty et al. – SC APPEAL NO. 22/2012-2016

In the case between Mercantile Investments Ltd. and J.A. Sumith Adhihetty, the court addressed the validity of referring an industrial dispute to arbitration under the Industrial Disputes Act when the appellant had already ceased employment and joined a competitor. The determination focused on whether a “live dispute” existed at the time of reference and the legal consequences of an arbitrator’s award concerning a lapsed employment contract. The proceedings revealed that the employment relationship had ended before the arbitration was initiated, precluding the existence of a continuing dispute amenable to arbitration. The Court of Appeal’s decision, which quashed the arbitral award on these grounds, was affirmed. The holding reaffirmed that an industrial dispute must subsist between an emp