Interim Injunction issued preventing Kurunegala Mayor arrest

Court of Appeal President A. H. M. D. Nawaz and Justice Sobitha Rajakaruna ruled the order will be in effect until the 05 petitions filed by the petitioners are taken up for examination and a final verdict is delivered on them.

The respondents named in the petitions filed by the Mayor of Kurunegala and 04 others were noticed to appear at the Court of Appeal on the 15th of September - the Kurunegala Magistrate is among the respondents.

The Court of Appeal said its order is not an obstruction on the investigations taking place with regard to the demolition of a building with Archaeological Value in Kurunegala and stressed the petitioners must cooperate with future investigations.

The Court of Appeal also ordered the petitioners to appear at the Kurunegala Magistrate's Court on Tuesday (25) or Wednesday (26).

The Court of Appeal ordered the respondents not to arrest or remand the suspects on the said days.

Madhawa Tennakoon, the Senior State Counsel at Attorney General's Department informed court objections would be filed with regard to the order.

The Court of Appeal ordered the objections to be filed at the next court session.

On the 11th of August, Kurunegala Mayor Thushara Sanjeewa Vitharana filed a writ petition with the Court of Appeal seeking an order to prevent the enforcement of the warrant issued for his arrest.

On the 07th of August, the Kurunegala Magistrate Court issued warrants for the arrest of the Kurunegala Mayor and 04 others with regard to the case filed over the demolition of a building in Kurunegala with archaeological value and re-issued the warrants on the 10th of August.

The suspects named in the case are Kurunegala Mayor Thushara Sanjeewa Vitharana, Kurunegala Urban Commissioner Pradeep Nishantha Thilakeratne, Urban Engineer Chaminda Bandara, Work Superintendent Illaludeen Zulfikar and Backhoe loader operator Lakshman Priyantha.