A.M. Sanjaya Nayanaka Darshana vs J.J. Chamila Indika Jayasinghe and Others – SC FR/38/2018-2023

In the case between A.M. Sanjaya Nayanaka Darshana (Plaintiff/Petitioner, operator of “Riverside” Restaurant) and the Divisional Secretary of Uvaparanagama, Land Commissioner General, and Attorney General (Respondents), the Court addressed whether a yearly state land permit, renewed over several years, conferred a right to lifetime or long-term occupation and whether non-renewal on the basis of reservation status was lawful. It was determined that repeated annual renewals of the permit did not create a legal entitlement to a long-term or lifetime right. The validity of the Quit Notice, issued under the State Lands (Recovery of Possession) Act, was upheld, and it was found that the petitioner’s rights under Articles 12(1), 12(2), and 14(1)(g) of the Constitution were not infringed. The hold