7. Replacement of section 60 of the principal enactment

Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.

Section 60 of the principal enactment is hereby repealed and the following section is substituted therefor: -

60. (1) (a) Where the summons are served by the process server, the summons shall be accompanied by a precept in the Form No. 17

of the First Schedule.

(b)

(i) The process server may, upon the summons being served on the defendant, obtain the signature or the thumb impression of such defendant on the precept as acknowledgment of the service of summons.

“Service by the process server

(ii)

The process server shall return the precept to the court, together with a report setting out the manner in which the summons was served on the defendant containing particulars relating to the identity of the person, date, time and place the summons were served. The report shall also state whether defendant, placed or refused to place his signature or thumb impression, on the precept as acknowledgment of the service of summons.

(iii)

The refusal by any defendant to place the signature or thumb impression, as the case may be, on the precept shall not be considered as an invalidation of the service of summons.

(2)

If the service referred to in the preceding provisions of this section cannot by the exercise of due diligence be effected, the court may having obtained an affidavit from the plaintiff stating that to the best of his knowledge the defendant resides in the captioned address and not living outside Sri

Lanka, order the process server to affix the summons at some conspicuous part of the house in which the defendant ordinarily resides or in the case of a company or a body corporate, at the registered office or at the usual place of business or office of such company or a body corporate and in every such case the summons shall be deemed to have been duly served on the defendant.

(3)

The Court may authorise the process server to serve the summons outside the local limits of the court as directed by the court.

(4)

Where it is reported by the process server that the summons could not be affected personally on the defendant on the last known address given by the plaintiff and the plaintiff informs Court by filling affidavit that the plaintiff is unaware of the place where the defendant resides, the court upon being satisfied on the contents of such affidavit, order that the summons be served by way of publication in newspapers in all three languages as the court may in each case direct.

(5)

For the purpose of this chapter-

“process server” means a fiscal, a deputy fiscal, an officer authorized by the Judge or

Registrar of the court to serve documents of the court within the local limits or outside the local limits of the court as directed by the court, or the

Grama Niladhari within whose division the defendant resides.”.

Read on from s 8