Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Others vs. Lankem Tea and Rubber Plantations (Pvt) Ltd – sllr 2009 volume 2 page 075

In the case between the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the Monetary Board, the Controller of Exchange, and the Attorney General (appellants) and Lankem Tea and Rubber Plantations (Pvt) Ltd. (respondent), the court addressed whether the respondent breached the Exchange Control Act—specifically Section 10(1), along with Sections 7 and 11(1)—by allotting shares to a foreign company without obtaining required approval. The issue included the adequacy and legal validity of a monetary penalty imposed absent stated reasons by the Controller of Exchange. It was held that the orders imposing penalties, lacking requisite statutory reasoning, were ineffective in law. The decision reaffirmed that administrative actions adversely affecting rights must provide reasons, anchored in the principle of legality