Thotawatte, J.

The Respondent-Petitioner-Petitioner (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the “Petitioner”) is the Respondent in the maintenance application No. 87361/23 in the Magistrate's Court, Welisara, filed by the Applicant-Respondent-Respondent (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "Applicant").

The Petitioner had submitted before the learned Magistrate that the Applicant in the maintenance proceedings did not fall within the category of persons entitled to claim maintenance under Section 2 of the Maintenance Act, No. 37 of 1999 (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the “Maintenance Act”), and therefore is not entitled to maintain the said application. However, the learned Magistrate, without having considered the submissions made (paragraph 06 of the petition) on behalf of the Petitioner, had issued an interim order dated 06.12.2023 under Section 11 of the Maintenance Act directing the Petitioner to pay a monthly sum of Rupees Sixty Thousand (Rs. 60,000/-) to the Applicant with effect from November 2023.

The Petitioner had again made an application before the learned Magistrate on 13.12.2023, seeking permission to tender his written submission regarding the said interim order, which was also refused by the Court as reflected in the journal entry dated 13.12.2023 of the attached copy of the Magistrate Court case record.

Being aggrieved by the said interim order dated 06.12.2023 (marked ‘B1’) and the order of refusal dated 13.12.2023 (marked ‘B2’), the Petitioner had filed Revision Application No. HC REV 13/24 before the Provincial High Court of the Western Province holden in Negombo on 19.05.2024,on the following grounds;

I. The learned Magistrate had granted interim relief without affording the Petitioner an opportunity to establish that the Applicant was not a spouse entitled to maintenance under Section 2 of the Maintenance Act, thereby defeating the purpose of the Act.

II. The learned Magistrate had disregarded the mandatory provisions of Section 11 of the Maintenance Act.

III. Relief had been granted to a party who had not approached the Court with clean hands.

IV. The interim order had been made without affording the Petitioner a fair hearing and without considering all relevant circumstances, in violation of the principles of natural justice.

The High Court had on 13.12.2024, issued an order staying the impugned interim order of the learned Magistrate until the final determination of the Revision Application before the High Court, and thereafter the matter had been fixed for inquiry.

The Petitioner alleges that, on 21.03.2025, the date fixed for inquiry, a different High Court Judge had assumed duties, and without taking up the inquiry, had dismissed the said application observing inter alia;

i. An application for a declaration of nullity of the marriage was already pending before the District Court of Nugegoda.

ii. The Petitioner had not exercised his right of appeal against the impugned interim maintenance order.

iii. Accordingly, there were no grounds to maintain the revision application.

iv. The parties could, if necessary, apply to the Magistrate to expedite the hearing of the maintenance case.

Being aggrieved by the above-mentioned order dated 21.03.2025, the Petitioner has filed the instant application in this Court on 03.07.2025 seeking, inter alia, the following reliefs:

c) Stay the interim maintenance order dated 06.12.2023 and the related subsequent order dated 28.05.2025 in Welisara Magistrate’s Court Case No: 87361/23, until final determination of this Application, d) Set aside the order dated 21.03.2025 delivered by the learned judge of the High Court of Negombo in Case No: HC REV 13/24. On 25.08.2025, the counsel for the Petitioner was heard in support and the counsel for the Applicant heard in opposition to the application.

It has taken the Petitioner nearly four months to challenge the order of the learned High Court Judge. The explanation for this delay, as explained by the Petitioner, is that, acting on the