Banda v. President, M.P.C.S.Ltd., Medirigiriya and Another – sllr 2003 volume 1 page 193

In the case between Banda (Plaintiff) and the President, Medirigiriya Multi Purpose Cooperative Society Ltd. (MPCS) and another (Defendant), the court addressed the validity of an application for eviction under the State Lands (Recovery of Possession) Act. It was determined that an application to evict an unauthorized occupant from state land, given exclusively for MPCS use, was invalid when made by the President of the MPCS, a non-public officer. The findings established that only a Government Agent or Divisional Secretary, as a public officer, could exercise such statutory powers under the Transfer of Powers (Divisional Secretaries) Act. The legal principle reaffirmed prohibits delegation of public powers to non-public officers, relying on the definitions in Article 170 of the Constituti