Sunday Times 2
Sumathi Dharmawardena PC appointed Senior Additional Solicitor General
View(s):Sumathi Dharmawardena PC was promoted to the post of Senior Additional Solicitor with effect from 19.06.2025 by the Public Service Commission.
Mr Dharmawardena joined the Attorney General’s Dept in 1994 as State Counsel and served over 31 years in various appointments. He was promoted as an Additional Solicitor General in 2019 and later appointed President’s Counsel.
His specialises in sports law, telecommunication law, IT law, air law, commercial law, arbitration, and sports arbitration, and civil and commercial litigation. He has participated in drafting amendments to key legislation such as the Telecommunication Act of Sri Lanka and various telecommunication regulations and ICT laws, including the Computer Crimes Act and Data Protection Act. He represented Sri Lanka in many international forums including the 39th sessions of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform) in Vienna, Austria in January 2020.
He was the lead counsel of the Sri Lanka Government in securing the release of Aeroflot aircraft detained by the Commercial High Court of Colombo in 2022 which averted a major diplomatic issue. He has represented the Attorney General in a number of cases including the writ applications filed against the Police in the High Court of Jaffna to seek a writ of Mandamus to conduct Mahaveer Day celebrations in November 2020.
Mr Dharmawardena’s contributions to sports regulation and governance in Sri Lanka highlight his impact on the integrity and transparency of sports. He played role in the enactment of the Prevention of Offences Relating to Sports Act No 24 of 2019. He addressed the INTERPOL Conference for Magistrate and Prosecutors responsible for sports in Lyon, France in 2024.
The International Cricket Council appointed
him as the Independent Chair of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit.
He heads the Court of Appeal Unit of the Attorney General’s Dept and appears in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. He is a certified sports arbitrator of the Asian International Arbitration Center of Malaysia and was a member of the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration of China.