Nishantha Perera vs Commissioner General of Lands and Others – sllr 2019 volume 3 page 143

In the case between Nishantha Perera (Plaintiff) and the Commissioner General of Lands and Others, including the Divisional Secretary and the plaintiff’s elder brother (Defendants), the court addressed the issue of succession to land under the Land Development Ordinance, No. 19 of 1935. It was determined that, following the death of a permit-holder, the spouse possesses the legal right to succeed to the land under section 48A(1) of the Ordinance, notwithstanding any nominations made by the original permit-holder. The court reaffirmed the distinction between “entitlement to succeed” and actually “succeeding to” the property, underscoring that administrative processes relating to the mother’s succession remained valid in the absence of evidence to the contrary. This interpretation relied on