CONSTITUTION OF BENCHES FROM THURSDAY 26.06.2025 ONWARDS

 

(A) The Constitution of Benches of the Court of Appeal from 26 th June 2025, which shall be operative until further notice, is set out in the Schedule hereof.

(B) In all matters, the Rules of the Court of Appeal shall be applied and followed in a uniform, consistent and fair manner.

(C) Once an argument commences, all Counsel shall endeavor to conclude oral submissions on the same day. However, if conclusion of the argument cannot be reached on the same day, further argument shall be fixed for a date within the shortest possible time, and if that is not possible, within the following three weeks, and not beyond.

(D) Where a Specially Constituted Bench has been nominated to hear and determine a matter, and anyone or more of the Judges of that Bench have been elevated to the Supreme Court, Such matter shall be referred to the President of the Court of Appeal, who may refer such matter to the Division of this Court which has now been assigned the hearing of such matter in terms of this Notice, or who may nominate a new Special Bench to hear and conclude such matter.

(E) All other matters where a specially constituted Bench has been nominated shall be taken up before the same Bench or the same presiding Judge in the Court Room in which the Presiding Judge of that Bench is sitting in terms of this Notice.

(F) All new applications filed on an extremely urgent basis will be accommodated at the discretion of the presiding Judge of the relevant court and may be mentioned on a desired day only if such application is duly filed (with proof of dispatch of notice to the Respondents) at least before 10.00 a.m. on the day prior to such desired date.

(G) Where argument has been concluded and judgment has been reserved before a Bench of which one or more of the Judges have since been elevated to the Supreme Court, such matter shall be mentioned before the remaining Judge before whom that matter was argued. The remaining Judge Shall inquire from the parties whether they wish to re-argue the matter or whether they would acquiesce with the remaining Judge pronouncing the judgment by himself. In the event of the parties indicating that they wish to re-argue the matter, such matter shall be referred directly to the Division of this Court which has been assigned the hearing of such matter in terms of this Notice.

(H) Where a matter has been partly heard or is to be resumed before a particular division, the Judges who heard the matter may continue to hear such matter, with the Consent of the parties, despite the changes envisaged by this notice, provided the presiding judge still adjudicates in the same Court.

 
By order of the
PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF APPEAL

 

W.E.F. –26.06.2025

 

 

Court Room No.	Bench	Nature of Work
301	Hon. Justice Rohantha Abeysuriya PC (P/CA) Hon. Justice K.P. Fernando	Writ applications filed from 01/01/2023 onwards Transfer Applications Expulsion Cases All Contempt of Court Applications Election Petition Cases Any other matters not referred to in this Notice.
302	Hon. Justice S.U.B. Karalliyadde Hon. Justice Dr. D. F. H. Gunawardena	Appeals, Revisions, Leave to Appeal Applications from & Writs or any other matter related to the Wakfs Board and Quazi Courts. Writ Applications, transferred from Court 301 on the directions of His Lordship the President of the Court of Appeal, whenever necessary.
205	Hon. Justice R. Gurusinghe Hon. Justice Dr. Sumudu Premachandra	All remaining Final Appeals from District Courts. All Restitutio in Integrum applications. All Admiralty matters. All Injunction applications All Habeas Corpus applications. All Appeals under the Right to Information Act. Writ Applications filed from 01/09/2022 to 31/12/2022 Writ Applications, transferred from Court 301 on the directions of His Lordship the President of the Court of Appeal, whenever necessary.
109	Hon. Justice Dhammika Ganepola Hon. Justice Adithya Patabendige	All Writ Applications filed from 2004 to 2018 (odd numbers and even numbers) All Writ Applications filed in 2019 and 2020 (even numbers) Writ Applications, transferred from Court 301 on the directions of His Lordship the President of the Court of Appeal, whenever necessary.
303	Hon. Justice Mayadunna Corea Hon. Justice Mahen Gopallawa	All Writ Application filed in 2021 (even numbers) All Writ Applications filed from 1st January 2022 to 31st August 2022. Writ Applications, transferred from Court 301 on the directions of His Lordship the President of the Court of Appeal, whenever necessary.
107	Hon. Justice P. Kumararatnam Hon. Justice R. Pradeep Hettiarachchi	All High Court Criminal Appeals (odd numbers) All Bail Applications Bail Appeals from High Court (BAA)
110	Hon. Justice Sasi Mahendran Hon. Justice Amal Ranaraja	All High Court Criminal Appeal (even numbers) Appeals and Revision applications from the Provincial High Court (Criminal Cases) Extradition Cases Leave to Appeal Applications (Criminal) MCR Application Miscellaneous Applications (Criminal).
108	Hon. Justice Chamath Morais Hon. Justice Annalingam Premashankar	All Inland Revenue cases stated by the Tax Appeals Commission
206	Hon. Justice Gihan Kulatunga	All writ applications filed in 2019, 2020 & 2021 (odd numbers) Writ Applications, transferred from Court 301 on the directions of His Lordship the President of the Court of Appeal, whenever necessary.
204	Hon. Justice Damith Thotawatta Hon. Justice K.M.S. Dissanayake	Appeals and Revision Applications from the Provincial High Court (Civil Cases) Land Acquisition Board of Review cases Leave to Appeal Applications (Civil) Miscellaneous Applications (Civil) Writ Applications, transferred from Court 301 on the directions of His Lordship the President of the Court of Appeal, whenever necessary.