Sumanthiran Goes to Court Over Gazetting of 5941 Acres Northern Lands Issue

The latest bombshell in this regard was the gazette notification  no 2430/25  dated 28 March 2025, issued under Section 4 of the Land Settlement Ordinance. The notification declared  that if no claim was made to any of the lands specified in the schedule of settlement notices numbered 5619 (Kilinochchi), 5617 (Jaffna), 5618 (Jaffna), 5620 (Mullaitheevu), 5621 (Mullaitheevu), 5622 (Mullaitheevu), and 5623 (Mannar), within three months from the 28th day of March 2025, such lands would be declared, under Section 5(1) of the Land Settlement  Ordinance, to be the property of the State and would  be dealt with accordingly

A  controversial  issue of grave concern to the Tamil people  of the northern and eastern provinces  in recent times has been  the seizure of privately owned lands by the Sri Lankan  State and some of its organs. Thousands of acres of lands have been appropriated under  various reasons  by agencies such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police and the departments of Archaeology, Forests, Forest Conservation, Wildlife and coast conservation and coastal conservation management.

The latest bombshell in this regard was the gazette notification  no 2430/25  dated 28 March 2025, issued under Section 4 of the Land Settlement Ordinance. The notification declared  that if no claim was made to any of the lands specified in the schedule of settlement notices numbered 5619 (Kilinochchi), 5617 (Jaffna), 5618 (Jaffna), 5620 (Mullaitheevu), 5621 (Mullaitheevu), 5622 (Mullaitheevu), and 5623 (Mannar), within three months from the 28th day of March 2025, such lands would be declared, under Section 5(1) of the Land Settlement  Ordinance, to be the property of the State and would  be dealt with accordingly.

The total extent of the lands specified in the seven schedules amounted to  5941 acres. Of these 3,669 acres were in Jaffna district, and 1703 acres were in Mullaitheevu district. Kilinochchi district came next with 515 acres. Mannar district came last with 54 acres. Interestingly, all four northern districts are coastal districts. Vavuniya, the only land-locked district in the northern province, was exempted in the gazette notification.

Interestingly enough, most of the lands referred to or cited in the gazette schedules are in the littoral areas of these districts. The lands cited in Mannar district are in the north-west of the Island in Musali AGA division. The lands cited in Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mullaitheevu districts in the north and north-east  taken together roughly form a coastal  arc geographically that stretches from the Vadamaratchy east AGA division to the Karaithuraipattru AGA division. This has raised doubts as to whether these lands are being surreptitiously earmarked for a future project or projects linked to a powerful  entity  wanting to  establish a footprint in the Tamil inhabited areas of the north.

Gazette  Notification

What has alarmed and upset the northern Tamils further is the mode and manner in which these lands have been gazetted. As is very clear, the lands in question are all Tamil owned and located in Tamil speaking regions, but the initial  28 March gazette notification was in  Sinhala and English only. The lands were in Tamil areas and owned by Tamils but the gazette notification was not in Tamil. How would the legitimate owners or occupants of these lands stake a claim within three months if the notification was not in Tamil? If no claim was made within the prescribed three months, the state could have appropriated the lands by default! Does this not suggest that something very fishy was going on relating to the lands  in these  coastal areas of the north?

Most Tamils in general and the northern people in particular were totally in the dark about the gazette in question for over a month. The notification did not create even a ripple despite the huge extent of lands targeted  by the gazette declaration.  It was an enterprising young journalist N. Logathayaalan who “discovered” the  March 28 gazette notification a month later  and realized its ramifications first.  Logathayaalan’s scoop was published by the digital journal”Kaalai Murasu” on May 1st 2025. News of the gazette sent shock waves. Curiously and significantly the gazette notification was published in Tamil also on May 2nd 2025.

News of the  controversial gazette notification impacted greatly on the Tamil people of the north. The local authority elections were scheduled on May 06..  The ruling National People’s Power (NPP) had been confident of  doing well in Tamil areas  at the  local polls like it did in the parliamentary elections. The gazette declaration however changed the situation.The NPP was now in the dock on this issue. Was the NPP government engaged in a clandestine “landgrab” exercise amounting to 5941 acres? An NPP Jaffna district MP complicated matters further by denying that there was a gazette! The election results indicated that the gazette notice may have contributed to the comparatively poor performance by the “compass” in the North-eastern local elections.

Furore

The  furore over the gazetting of lands in the north issue continued. Several Tamil and Muslim MPs raised it in Parliament. There emerged a Tamil speaking “consensus” that the gazette be rescinded. Some Tamil politicians undertook visits to diplomatic missions of western countries in Colombo and appraised diplomats of the issue.

Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi (ITAK)general secretary and former Jaffna district  parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran wrote a detailed letter to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. This was followed up by another  letter sent jointly with current party president CVK Sivagnanam.The ITAK also conducted legal clinics for people whose lands were specified in the gazette schedules. Many lawyers and law students offered their services on a voluntary basis. The ITAK also planned to launch a civil disobedience campaign.

Subsequently Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya held a meeting with all MPs representing the northern and eastern provinces to discuss the issue.  Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation  minister K.D. Lal Kantha and officials of the Lands ministry were also present. Some officials defended the action taken and insisted that the gazette should not be revoked. It was decided that the cabinet take up the lands gazette issue for discussion and arrive at a decision.  

Press Release

On 27 May 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation issued a press release saying  that a decision had been taken to revoke the 28 March  Gazette (2430/25), and that the opinion of the Attorney-General  was being sought in this regard. In a separate development Minister Lal Kantha in response to a query raised by ITAK Jaffna MP Sivagnanam Shritharan said the gazette would be revoked and that an official announcement would be made soon. It appeared therefore that the gazette danger had ceased. Both the Tamil Congress  General Secretary Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and ITAK secretary MA Sumanthiran welcomed the decision and thanked the Government. Plans to launch a civil disobedience campaign were shelved.

Yet, as the days passed, there was nothing concrete..There was no revocation of the gazette, there were no announcements regarding the issue. This writer too, wrote to the Secretary to the  Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation , Mr. D .P .Wickramasinghe, seeking clarification. There was  no response.

Diabolical Landgrab?

Once again the mood began to sour. Doubts gathered. Was the NPP Government being truthful  about the decision to revoke the gazette? What troubled many was that the three month deadline was approaching .If no claims were made regarding the gazetted lands by  28 June 2025, the lands in question would be automatically taken over by the state. Under these circumstances was the Govt lulling the Tamil people into a state of complacency on the one hand while setting the stage for a diabolical landgrab on the other? The longer the delay, the greater the danger of the gazetted lands being forfeited.

Fundamental Rights Petition

It is against this backdrop that former Jaffna district MP and current secretary of the ITAK, Mathiaparanan Abraham Sumanthiran decided to seek legal recourse on the matter. On  Thursday ,12 June 2025, a fundamental rights petition (SC FR 112/2025)was filed  in the Supreme Court on behalf of Sumanthiran who is a president’s counsel himself. The Petitioner Sumanthiran has  made  this application in his own right and in the public interest.

The  following have been cited as respondents in the FR petition. The 1st Respondent is the Land Commissioner General. The 2nd Respondent is the Commissioner of Land Title Settlement. The 3rd Respondent is the Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation. The 4th Respondent is the Minister for the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation.

The 5th Respondent is the Commissioner of Land for the Department of Provincial Land Administration to the Northern Provincial Council.The 6th 7th 8th  and  9th Respondents are the District Secretaries (‘Government Agent’) of the Districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitheevu, and Mannar. The 10th Respondent is the Hon. Attorney General of the Republic.

DBSJeyaraj can be reached at 

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