Basil Rajapakse vs. Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges and Others – sllr 2019 volume 3 page 212

In Basil Rajapakse v. Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (and others), the court addressed whether section 49(3) of the Judicature Act, when read with Article 140 of the Constitution, permits or requires a referral of a pending case to the Supreme Court where a sitting judge of that court is involved as a party. It was held that section 49(3) does not operate to transfer or create jurisdiction in the Supreme Court in such matters, nor does it give special privileges to sitting judges as litigants. The principle of equality before the law was reaffirmed, and it was clarified that the statutory provision only provides an administrative mechanism to prevent a judge from adjudic