English
In this case, the plaintiff asked the Court of Appeal to quash the decision of the Central Environmental Authority approving the construction of an expressway linking Colombo to Matara.
The plaintiff claimed that the construction of the expressway would have an important impact on the environment which was not taken into consideration by the Central Environmental Authority when it took its decision to grant the permit. The court of first instance rejected the request of judicial review on the basis that the Environmental Impact Assessment was not showing any reasons for the rejection of the project.
The plaintiff sought appeal in front of the Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka. The Court held that he did not have the competence to judge the merits of the project and that it could only rely on the reports of experts. In that case, the court noticed that the Environmental Impact Assessment and other experts’ report were promoting the expressway project. Consequently and as no scientific evidence where speaking against the expressway, the appeal was dismissed.