Mr. M.F. Hassim has made a complaint with the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka that a news item published in The Sunday Times of March 9, 2008 has violated provisions of The Editors Code of Professional Practice under the chapter ‘Accurate Reporting.’
The thrust of the complaint is that the news item published proceedings of a Court case in which he was a party, but did not publish the outcome of the case, which was in his favour.
The news item was based on the Court proceedings. The newspaper said the Court of Appeal had reserved its order in the case filed by Mr. A.K.G.S.G. Abeyatunga, a resident of Kurunegala against Mr. M.F. Hassim.
The newspaper has gone on to explain the sequence of events leading up to the case coming before the Court of Appeal. This included the fact that a case filed by Mr. Abeyatunga in the District Court against Mr. Hassim had been dismissed.
Some of the subsequent judgments referred by Mr. Hassim in his complaint are developments that have taken place following the publication of the article in 2008. Among them is the Court of Appeal judgment on the case dated May 22, 2008 and a Supreme Court order dated March, 19, 2009.
The Supreme Court also rejected an application for Special Leave to Proceed in an appeal filed by residents in Kurunegala who claimed that Mr. Hassim’s land had been illegally acquired.
The Bench comprised Justices, J.A.N. de Silva (now Chief Justice), Justice Jagath Balapatabendi and Justice Imam which dismissed the application filed by Mr.Abeyatunga of Kurunegala against Mr. Hassim of Dharmapala Mawatha, Kurunegala.
The prime land in dispute is located adjoining the Kandy Road, at Millawa in Kurunegala.
In fairness to Mr. Hassim and the readers, once proceedings of the pending Court case was reported, the final order of the Court of Appeal should have also been reported. This decision was reached by Dr. Devanesan Nesiah, Mr. Lucille Wijewardene and Mr. Daya Lankapura, the three-member team of the Dispute Resolution Council of the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka who met on September 29, 2009.
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