body's final determination would be entered with the relevant District Court as a decree of
court. If a party was not satisfied by the decision of this body, that party may challenge the
order by way of a writ in the Provincial High Court. The body should have the authority to
issue a certificate in an appropriate case to a party to institute proceedings in relation to a
property dispute in a district court. This certificate should be a prerequisite for instituting
proceedings in the District Court.
An alternative dispute resolution mechanism may not be sufficient to deal with property
disputes of a particularly sensitive political nature. For example, where one of the parties to
the dispute is an armed or a political group, where the dispute is between a civilian and the
security forces, or where the dispute is between persons of different ethnic or religious
communities. In these circumstances, and against the background of deep mistrust
between the different communities and the difficulty of enforcing settlement, it may be
desirable for the dispute to be determined by a committee with international membership
perceived by the parties to have neutral standing.
Sundaram Sriskandarajah holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) in Legislative drafting from the University of
West Indies, Barbados (1994). He is an Attorney at Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, having been
called to the Bar in 1979. He served in the Attorney General’s Department as a State Counsel and a
Senior State Counsel from 1981 to 1997. He was appointed as a High Court Judge of the Democratic
Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in October, 1997 and performs the function of a High Court Judge up to
now. He is an examiner of the Sri Lanka Law College for the Attorneys at Law final examination. He is a
Visiting Lecturer in the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Ramalingam Chakrawarthy Karunakaran holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from the University of
Colombo (1981). He is an Attorney at Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, having been called to
the Bar in 1979 and is a Solicitor (England & Wales) admitted in 1984. He was in active civil practice for
more than two decades. He served as the Secretary of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. He
is presently a member of the Constitutional Council, established under the 17th amendment to the
Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
Mathiaparanan Abraham Sumanthiran holds a Bachelor of Science (Physics) from the University of
Madras (1986) and a Master of Laws (LL.M) (Internet and Electronic Law) from Monash University,
Australia (2001). He is an Attorney at Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, having been called to the
Bar in 1991 and practices as counsel mainly in civil cases. In 2000, he appeared before the Human
Rights Commission as counsel on behalf of the Internally Displaced Persons from the Northern Province
temporarily residing in the Puttalam District.
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