CSI Jaffna Diocese

All persons should obey Court orders

Justice Thilakawardane

Courtesy: Daily News, 18th October 2008 by Wasantha Ramanayake

All persons, irrespective of caste, creed, race or religion should implicitly obey all Court orders, observed Justice Shiranee Thilakawardane when an unusual question of law was referred to the Supreme Court for an interpretation.

An answer filed by the defendants in a contempt proceedings prompted the Jaffna District Court to refer the legal question to the court. According to the reference, the defendants were using the name “American Ceylon Mission” against the Court order which refrained them from using the particular name

In their answer they stated that they were only exercising their fundamental right to religion guaranteed in the Constitution and that therefore no Court can issue an enjoining order or injunction against them.

Supreme Court noted that there was no necessity for any interpretation in this regard since all persons must implicitly obey Court orders and ordered that the case record be sent back to the District Court of Jaffna promptly in order to continue with and conclude the contempt inquiry expeditiously

The Bench comprised Justices Ms Shiranee Tilakawardane, K Sripavan and P A Ratnayake PC.

In this case, plaintiff American Ceylon Mission (ACM) and its Treasurer Arul Joseph had filed an action in the District Court of Jaffna stating that ACM belonged to the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India (JDCSI) and that accordingly the Bishop, Secretary and Treasurer of the Diocese are the persons constitute ACM.

An enjoining order had been issued earlier in the first instance against the defendants including Sellathurai Jeyanesan, Annappa Jeyakumar, Annappa Jeyarajan, Vasanthi Rajaratnam and Shirani Mills restraining them from using the name “American Ceylon Mission”.

The plaintiffs complained to Court that the Defendants were in contempt of Court due to using the name “Church of the American Ceylon Mission”.

K. Kanag-Isvaran PC with M.A. Sumanthiran appeared for the American Ceylon Mission. P. Nagendra PC with A.P. Niles appeared for the Defendants. Shibley Aziz PC appeared for the Defendants who are residing in the USA.