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Public Interest Law Foundation v. Central Environmental Authority and Another

Country/Territory
Sri Lanka
Type of court
National - higher court
Date
Feb 16, 2001
Source
UNEP, InforMEA
Court name
Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka
Seat of court
Colombo
Judge
U. de Z. Gunawardena
Reference number
[2001] LKCA 74
Language
English
Keyword
Land-use planning Access-to-justice
Abstract

In this case, the plaintiff asked the Court of Appeal to quash the decision of the Central Environmental Authority approving the construction of an expressway linking Colombo to Matara.

The plaintiff claimed that the construction of the expressway would have an important impact on the environment which was not taken into consideration by the Central Environmental Authority when it took its decision to grant the permit. The court of first instance rejected the request of judicial review on the basis that the Environmental Impact Assessment was not showing any reasons for the rejection of the project.

The plaintiff sought appeal in front of the Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka. The Court held that he did not have the competence to judge the merits of the project and that it could only rely on the reports of experts. In that case, the court noticed that the Environmental Impact Assessment and other experts’ report were promoting the expressway project. Consequently and as no scientific evidence where speaking against the expressway, the appeal was dismissed.

Full text
Public Interest Law Foundation v.pdf
74.html