The Supreme Court has issued an interim injunction preventing the implementation of a gazette notification issued with the aim of acquiring 5,941 acres of unclaimed land in the Northern Province.
The order was issued after considering a fundamental rights petition filed by former Jaffna District MP M. A. Sumandhiran.
The order was issued by a three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Yasantha Kodagoda, Sampath Abeykoon and Sampath Wijeyarathna.
The petitioner claims that the government had issued a gazette notification on March 28th with the aim of acquiring lands in the Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts that had not been claimed by the 28th of this month.
The petitioner stated that it has been revealed that the relevant gazette notification has planned to take over 5,941 acres of land in the Northern Province in this way.
The petitioner alleges that the government is causing great injustice to the people of the Northern Province by issuing the gazette notification to take over land in this way, as the owners of most of the existing lands in the Northern Province are currently abroad and there is an unresolved situation regarding the rights of certain lands.
The petitioner further requests that a ruling be issued that their fundamental human rights are being violated through this and that an interim injunction be issued preventing the implementation of the relevant gazette notification.