If the certificate is confirmed, it's not easy to get out of marriage - A court ruling

The Court of Appeal has ruled that when a marriage certificate is presented to confirm a person's marriage, it should be accepted as primary evidence confirming the existence of a marriage, and that no administrative officer has the legal authority to decide on its validity without a proper court order in that regard. This decision was delivered by Court of Appeal Judges Dhammika Ganepola and Aditya Patabendige after considering a writ petition filed before the Court of Appeal.

Therein, the bench emphasized that since only a District Court with proper jurisdiction has the power to annul an existing marriage, in the absence of such an order, a marriage certificate is sufficient primary evidence to confirm one's marital status.

This writ petition was filed by Ashila Ranasinghe, a resident of Galenbindunuwewa, Anuradhapura. He had named the Commissioner General of Lands, the Inter-Provincial Land Commissioner of Anuradhapura, and the Divisional Secretary of Galenbindunuwewa as respondents. The basis for this case was the petitioner's request to the relevant authorities to further extend the lease agreements granted under the State Lands Ordinance for two government lands that belonged to his father after his father's demise. The petitioner's father had two marriages, and the petitioner is the only child from the first marriage, which took place in 1973. Subsequently, the father separated from his first marriage, remarried in 1984, and moved to reside on the said lands with his second wife.

Subsequently, the father applied for and obtained government approval for long-term lease agreements under the State Lands Ordinance in the name of his second wife. However, after the death of the second wife, the father himself applied for and obtained approval for those lease agreements in his own name, and subsequently, the father also passed away. Currently, the petitioner, who is the child from the first marriage enjoying and maintaining those lands, has applied to the authorities to have the relevant lease agreements transferred to his name. However, the respondents rejected the petitioner's request, stating that there was insufficient evidence to confirm whether the father had divorced his first marriage at the time of his second marriage. Although the second marriage certificate was presented, in a context where the petitioner's mother had also passed away, the respondents, assuming the second marriage was not legal due to the lack of evidence of divorce, took steps to cancel the lease agreement approval granted to the father.

Considering these facts, Court of Appeal Judge Aditya Patabendige, quoting a recent decision delivered by Supreme Court Judge Achala Wengappuli in the case of 'Hudson Samarasinghe v. Thilaka Wadasinghe' (SC Appeal No 22/2020), stated that a marriage confirmed by a marriage certificate can only be annulled or dissolved by a decree of nullity or an order issued by a competent court. Furthermore, the judge pointed out that no administrative authority has the legal power to assume whether a divorce exists in a marriage without a court order.

Accordingly, the Court of Appeal issued a writ order nullifying the decision taken by the respondents to cancel the father's lease agreement approval. Furthermore, the Court of Appeal specifically ordered the respondents to consider the petitioner's request in accordance with the principles of natural justice and to refrain from indirectly deciding on the legality of the father's marriage. In this case, Attorneys-at-Law Shehan Chamika Silva, Radya Herath, and Ama Jayaweera, along with Indika Hettiarachchi Law Associates, appeared for the petitioner.