Civil Appelate High Court Rejects Pujith and Nilantha's Petitions to Dismiss Easter Sunday Compensation Cases

COLOMBO (News 1st): Judges of the Civil Appellate High Court of Negombo, Yvonne Fernando and Nirosha Fernando, dismissed a petition filed on behalf of former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara and former State Intelligence Chief Nilantha Jayawardena seeking relief.The petitioners had challenged the order of the trial court refusing to take up an objection as a preliminary issue of law.Victims of the Easter Sunday attacks had filed actions against Pujith Jayasundara and Nilantha Jayawardena, claiming compensation over the Easter Sunday attacks.Pujith and Nilantha objected to the maintainability of the action on the grounds that the action was time-barred under the provisions of the Police Ordinance.They took up the position that this objection must be tried as a preliminary question of law.The trial judge had refused this application, and Pujith and Nilantha had challenged the order of the judge in the Civil Appellate High Court.When 182 compensation cases filed by victims of the Easter Sunday bomb attacks were taken up for pre-trial hearings in the Negombo District Court, lawyers representing the fourth and fifth defendants, former IGP Pujith Jayasundara and former State Intelligence Chief Nilantha Jayawardena, argued that, since both their clients are police officers, any case against them must be filed within three months of the incident, as required under the Police Ordinance.Accordingly, counsel for the 4th and 5th defendants submitted to court that since the plaintiffs did not file the relevant cases within three months of the bomb attack occurring, the compensation cases against their clients, who are police officers, should be dismissed.Pujith Jayasundara and Nilantha Jayawardena had requested the court during the pre-trial to consider and resolve the matter regarding that preliminary objection as a preliminary question of law.Counsel for plaintiffs, who strongly objected to that application, argued that their clients came to know that the police officers and other defendants involved in the Easter bomb attack were responsible through media reports published regarding the proceedings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to look into the Easter bomb attack.After being informed of the matter, the plaintiffs said that they had submitted the relevant notices within the time limits and had proceeded to file all the cases accordingly, and sought an order from the court dismissing the application of the defendants.After the inquiry was held, District Judge Lalith Kannangara, while giving the relevant order, said that since the defendants' objection is a matter that must be verified through evidence presented during the trial, it cannot be accepted as a preliminary issue that must be resolved, and accordingly, that matter can be considered at the end of the trial.Following the District Judge’s order, Pujith Jayasundara and Nilantha Jayawardena filed a petition seeking leave to appeal before the Negombo Civil Appellate High Court.Judges of the Negombo Civil Appellate High Court, Yvonne Fernando and Nirosha Fernando, who delivered the order regarding that request today, affirmed the order given by the Negombo District Judge and rejected the request of the defendant petitioners, Pujith Jayasundara and Nilantha Jayawardena.