The court upheld the University’s decision to dismiss the Petitioner for sexual harassment after affirming the fairness of the disciplinary process, rejecting claims of procedural impropriety or professional jealousy.

Dr. Sumudu Premachandra J.

1] Professor Sarath Wijesooriya, in his work, “Mage Naduwa Iwarayi-මගේ න ඉවරයි” related to dirt inside of the academia, says;

“අපි ගේශපාලනඥයන්ගේ ගනාමනා කටයුතු ගැන නිතර කතා කරන්ගනමු. විගේචනය කරන්ගනමු. එගෙත් සිය උගත්කම ො සිවිල් බලය ඉවෙල් කරගගන ප්‍රතිරූප ගගාඩ නගාගගන කටයුතු කරන උදවිය ගැන කතා ගනාකරන්ගනමු. ගේ පිරිසගේ කටයුතු ගේ ගේශපාලනඥයන්ගේ කටයුතුවලට වඩා සාෙසිකය. මන්ද ඔවුන් සතු බලය එක්තරා කාලයකට පමණක් අදාළ ගනාවන ගෙයිනි.

ගේ ගදයමය ආඛ්‍යානය වාේ ප්‍රොරයකි. එය ආගේගාත්මකය. කකකෂය. තමන් සතු සිවිල් බලය දඩමීමා කරගගන ගනාපනත් කටයුතු කරන්නන් ගෙළිදරේ කිරීම සඳො තනා ගන්නා රීතියකට වඩා ස්වාභාවික වූ ආගේගාත්මක රීතියක් පාඨකයාට ප්‍රබල බලපෑමක් ඇති කිරීමට ඉවෙල් ගේ.”, ISBN, VGCSH0003. Author, Sarath Wijesooriya. Publisher, WIJESOORIYA. Year, 2010. First Edition

2] The above notion cannot be generalised; however, it applies to some extent in academia. The majority of highly esteemed members of academia, and few can be found in the above calibre. This case is entangled with and reflects some of these unseen, hidden, unsavoury events that occurred in the Sri Lankan Universities. Since the above consideration has come from a senior professor in academia, it cannot be lightly ignored.

3] In this writ application, the Petitioner, a Professor of Chemistry with an unblemished 14-year service record specializing in anti-cancer research, is challenging his dismissal by the 1st Respondent University following a disciplinary inquiry. The inquiry stemmed from a complaint of sexual harassment made by the 24th Respondent (Sewmini Pabasara), a 1st-year student. The specific allegations, occurring on 28.12.2023, include verbal assault and sexual harassment by touching her body (elbow, hand, and stomach), as detailed in the Charge Sheet ("P2"). The Petitioner submitted a full denial ("P3") of the allegations, arguing that the claims were false and that the punishment sought was excessively harsh, particularly because his termination would end his valuable research work and outreach services to rural schools.

4] A disciplinary inquiry was conducted by the 25th Respondent, Mr. Sudath Gopollawa, Former High Court Judge which found the Petitioner guilty of five of the six counts (I, II, IV, V, and VI) but acquitted him of Count III. This finding was contained in the Order/Report ("P4"), dated 02.09.2025. Subsequently, the University Council decided on 14.10.2025, to terminate the Petitioner's services, a decision scheduled for final confirmation on 11.11.2025, today at 4pm. The Petitioner contends that the 25th Respondent failed to properly assess the evidence, leading to a flawed conclusion, and that the termination decision is unfair and unlawful.

5] Crucially, the Petitioner claims the complaint was "engineered" due to professional jealousy by the 26th Respondent (Dr. Russel De Silva), who was the course coordinator for the student and an academic colleague with whom the Petitioner alleges he had academic conflicts. In fact, the Petitioner said that Dr. Russel De Silva was one of his academic gurus, since he was placed above him in the University staff, Dr. Russel De Silva engineered and plotted this event. The petition details the 26th Respondent's involvement in submitting the complaint ("P5"). Given the imminent termination, the Petitioner is seeking interim relief from the court to prevent irreparable loss and damage that would be caused by the termination, pending the final hearing and determination of his application.

6] The Petitioner prays;

a. Issue notices on the Respondents, b. Call for and examine the entire record pertaining to this application, c. Grant and issue an order in the nature of a Writ of Prohibition prohibiting the 1st respondent University from proceeding to terminate the services of the Petitioner, d. Issue an order in the nature of a Writ of Certiorari quashing the decision made by the Council of the 1st Respondent University on 14-10-2025 to terminate the services of the Petitioner, e. Issue an order in the nature of a Writ of