Hewa Kulasuriyage Anura Nimal vs Commissioner General of Excise – SC/FR/402/2013-2024

In the case between Hewa Kulasuriyage Anura Nimal (Plaintiff) and the Commissioner General of Excise, the Public Service Commission, and the Attorney General (Defendants), the Court addressed whether the petitioner’s fundamental rights under Article 12(1) of the Constitution were violated by the issuance of letter P22, which involved the deferral of salary increments and questioned the procedures relating to promotion and the Efficiency Bar examination. It was held that the decision reflected in P22 was arbitrary, manifestly unreasonable, and denied the petitioner an opportunity to be heard, thereby violating constitutional guarantees of equality and natural justice. Relying on established principles concerning arbitrariness and procedural fairness, the decision underscored the necessity f