Ranawickrema v. Minister Of Agriculture And Lands And Others – sllr 2006 volume 1 page 042

In Ranawickrema v. Minister of Agriculture and Lands and Others, the court addressed whether a Section 2 Notice under the Land Acquisition Act constitutes a decisive exercise of discretion subject to judicial review. The holding established that such a notice is investigatory in nature and does not amount to a final decision affecting rights; judicial review is not warranted at this preliminary stage. The principles reaffirmed included the requirement for preliminary investigation per the Land Manual before identifying land for acquisition, and clarified that the appropriate juncture for judicial review arises only upon exercise of discretion under section 4(1) of the Act. The application for a writ of certiorari to quash the Section 2 Notice was thus dismissed as premature, underscoring t