Kumari Menike v. Aluwihare – sllr 1989 volume 2 page 091

In the case between Kumari Menike (Applicant-Appellant) and Aluwihare (Respondent), the court addressed whether a child, temporarily maintained by a third party, forfeits the inherent right to claim maintenance from the natural father, and clarified the proper party entitled to file such an application under section 2 of the Maintenance Ordinance. It was held that the statutory right to maintenance resides in the child and is not extinguished by support received from others, maintaining that dependence on charity strengthens rather than diminishes the claim. The court relied on precedents including Gunasekera v. Ahamath and Tenne v. Ekanayake, stressing that the loss of maintenance rights due to procedural technicalities is impermissible, and that orders for maintenance may provide for dir