IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA In the matter of an application for Revision in terms of Article 138 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

CA (PHC) APN No. CPA/81/22 The Officer in Charge, Police Station, High Court Kalmunai Sammanthurai. No. EP/HCK/REV/307/2020 COMPLAINANT Vs.

Magistrate’s Court Sammanthurai No. 24468/PC/20

1. Muhammed Saly Rafeek, 133, Methagama Kolugama, Monaragala.

2. Abul Hassan Asmy, 217, Central Road, Mavadippalli.

ACCUSED Iyoob Mohamed Rifas, 144/B, Kuthirayar Road, Malayadikkiramam-03, Sammanthurai. 1ST CLAIMANT AND BETWEEN Iyoob Mohamed Rifas, 144/B, Kuthirayar Road, Malayadikkiramam-03, Sammanthurai.

1ST CLAIMANT-APPELLANT Vs.

1. The Officer in Charge, Police Station, Sammanthurai.

2. The Attorney General, Attorney General’s Department, Colombo 12.

RESPONDENTS AND NOW BETWEEN Iyoob Mohamed Rifas, 144/B, Kuthirayar Road, Malayadikkiramam-03, Sammanthurai.

1ST CLAIMANT-APPELLANT-PETITIONER Vs.

1. The Officer in Charge, Police Station, Sammanthurai.

2. The Attorney General, Attorney General’s Department, Colombo 12.

RESPONDENT-RESPONDENTS Before : Sampath B. Abayakoon, J.

: P. Kumararatnam, J.

Counsel : Keheliya Alahakoon for the 1st claimant-appellant-

petitioner : Nishanth Nagaratnam, S.C. for the Respondent Argued on : 20-06-2023 Decided on : 12-09-2023 Sampath B. Abayakoon, J.

This is an application by the 1st claimant-appellant-petitioner (hereinafter referred to as the petitioner) invoking the revisionary jurisdiction of this Court in terms of Article 138 of the Constitution.

When this matter was supported before this Court, having heard the petitioner, this Court decided to grant notice, and accordingly, upon receiving the notice, the respondent-respondents have filed their objections as required.

At the hearing of this application, this Court had the benefit of listening to the submissions made by the learned Counsel for the petitioner, as well as the learned State Counsel, on behalf of the respondent-respondents.

The Officer in Charge of Sammanthurai police has charged the two accused mentioned in the petition before the Magistrate’s Court of Sammanthurai for allegedly committing an offence punishable in terms of section 3D of the Animals Act No. 29 of 1958 as amended by the Animals (Amendment) Act No. 10 of 2009. The provided translation of the charge sheet preferred against the two accused on 29-06-2020 reads as follows;

The above named accused on or about 26th June 2020 at Nellupitiya junction within the jurisdiction of this Court by transporting buffaloes in the night without having a valid permit you have committed an offence knowingly and intentionally under the section 3D of the Animals Act No. 29 of 1958 and amended Animals Act No.

10 of 2009.

When the charge was read over to the accused before the learned Magistrate of Sammanthurai, both of them have pleaded guilty to the charge and accordingly they have been sentenced to a fine of Rs.10000/= each, with a default sentence of three-month imprisonment each.

It is clear from the charge to which the accused have pleaded guilty, they have been informed that transporting 68 heads of buffaloes in the night without having a valid permit was the offence committed by them.

As a result of the conviction and the sentence on the basis that the accused have transported the 68 heads of buffaloes mentioned in the charged sheet, the learned Magistrate of Sammanthurai has allowed the petitioner who came before the Court as the owner of the animals to show cause as to why the animals should not be confiscated in terms of the Animals Act.

At the inquiry held in that regard, the petitioner has given evidence and had claimed that he purchased 70 heads of animals from a person in Siyambalanduwa. It had been his position that while he was in the process of obtaining the necessary permits to transport the animals, his two assistants have herded the animals, at which point, the police have taken the animals and