District Court removes ex-parte injunction against AAC
Colombo District Court judge Sandun Vithana on Thursday, issued an order vacating the ex-parte injunction previously granted against the Automobile Association of Ceylon (AAC). The court’s decision followed comprehensive submissions from counsel representing the Association, its President, Executive Committee members, and Secretary.
The legal dispute arose when Keerthi Gunawardena, former Vice President of the Automobile Association of Ceylon, filed suit against the organisation. He successfully obtained an ex-parte injunction that temporarily suspended the Association’s decision to terminate his membership.
The Association’s legal representatives presented several key arguments in their defence. The defendants contended that Gunawardena had engaged in conduct that was both undesirable and unbecoming during its Annual General Meeting. They presented evidence that the Association had received 37 formal complaints regarding the incident in question.
The defence emphasised that the membership termination decision was made in strict accordance with the procedural requirements outlined in the Association’s rules. They further argued that Gunawardena had provided misleading information to the court when initially seeking the ex-parte injunction.
After carefully considering submissions from all parties, the District Court of Colombo determined that the plaintiff had both suppressed and misrepresented material facts when initially approaching the court for relief. Additionally, the court found that the Automobile Association had indeed followed proper procedures as established in their governing rules—a point that the plaintiff himself had acknowledged during proceedings.
Based on these findings, the court concluded that the ex-parte injunction should be vacated, thereby allowing the Association’s original membership termination decision to stand. For the Automobile Association of Ceylon Kuvera de Zoysa PC led the team, supported by Attorneys at-Law Samuditha Kumarasinghe and Sajana de Zoysa, with instructions from Attorney at-Law Sanjay Fonseka.
For Association President Dhammika Attygalle, Ikram Mohamed PC appeared alongside Attorney at-Law Charitha Jayawickrama. For the Executive Committee members Chandaka Jayasundara PC represented the committee with Attorney at-Law Imaz Imthiyaz.
For Association Secretary Devapriya Hettiarachchi, Sanjay Rajarathnam PC appeared with Attorney at-Law E.S. Jayasinghe. The plaintiff, Gunawardena, was represented by Attorneys at-Law Asthika Devendra, instructed by W.M.D.M.B. Wasala.