Over a thousand Tamils of the Northern Peninsula filed a petition, to the Appeal Court, demanding that steps to be taken against an acquisition notice ,marked 'P1', that advocates the appropriation of 6381 acres of land which contain their traditional homes.
That petition noted the breaching of the government's own land acquisition act, stressing that the government's land acquisition in the Tamil North is flawed , as their land is to be taken over by government forces for no apparent public purpose.
Highlighting the inaccurate acquisition notice that justified land appropriation by reading,
'Person claiming ownership over the land: cannot be identified'
The petition outlined that, though the inhabitants of the land had continually interacted with state actors, the petitioners had been listed as 'displaced' and, whilst being kept in 'welfare camps', repeatedly refused permission to return to their own land.
Depicting the vast extent of the Sri Lankan government land grab, the petition noted that the new area of land about to be appropriated was two thirds of the entire land area of the southern capital city, Colombo.
It concluded by calling for an interim order that restrained the respondents, the Sri Lankan government, from following through on their 'P1' appropriation notice.
The petition was filed by lawyers, Sinnadurai Sundaralingam & Balendra, at the Appeal Courts amidst escalating concern regarding the independence of the judiciary in Sri Lanka.
Read the full petition here.