Prescription (Special Provisions) Act 2016

Official English translation. The Sinhala text prevails. Open the official Sinhala text, official PDF on documents.gov.lk

Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged

s 1Short title

This Act may be cited as the Prescription (Special

Provisions) Act, No. 5 of 2016.

s 2Right to sue for immovable property including land of a disadvantaged person

(1)

If at the time, when the right of any person to sue for the recovery of any immovable property including land shall have accrued, such person was a disadvantaged person, possession of the aforesaid immovable property including land by any other person shall not be taken as giving such other person any entitlement specified in section 3 of the

Prescription Ordinance (Chapter 68) to such immovable property including land by virtue of such possession, so long as the first mentioned person remained a disadvantaged person.

Illustration

‘A’ is a disadvantaged person at the time ‘B’

commences to possess ‘A’s land – Prescription will not begin to run against ‘A’ as long as ‘A’ continued to be a disadvantaged person.

(2)

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section 13 of the Prescription Ordinance (Chapter 68), the adverse and undisturbed possession for thirty years of any immovable property including land by any person claiming the same, or by those under whom he claims, shall not be taken as conclusive proof of title in the manner provided for by section 3 of the Prescription Ordinance (Chapter 68), where the person against whom the adverse and undisturbed possession is being claimed was a disadvantaged person.

s 3Avoidance of doubt

For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that if a disadvantaged person dies, the period during which he was so disadvantaged shall inure to the benefit of his heir or heirs and accordingly such heir or heirs shall be entitled to the benefit granted to a disadvantaged person under section 2 of this Act.

s 4A disadvantaged person to be entitled to benefit from this Act within two years after the date of operation of this Act

A disadvantaged person who was unable to pursue his rights for the recovery of any immovable property including land, shall be entitled to institute an action to avail himself of the benefits conferred by this Act within two years after the coming into operation of this Act.

s 5Provisions of the Act not to apply to State land

The provisions of this Act shall not apply to or in respect of any land which has been granted under the provisions of the Land Development Ordinance (Chapter 464), the Land Grants (Special Provisions) Act, No. 43 of 1979, or the State Lands Ordinance (Chapter 454).

s 6Interpretation

In this Act—

“activities of any militant terrorist group” means any act which is defined as a “terrorist act” in the Convention on the Suppression of

Terrorist Financing Act, No. 25 of 2005, as amended by Act, No. 3 of 2013;

“disadvantaged person” means a person who was unable to pursue his rights in a court in which he was by law enabled to pursue such rights, as a result of the circumstances which prevailed due to the activities of any militant terrorist group during the period commencing on May 1st, 1983 and ending on May 18th,

2009.

s 7Sinhala text to prevail in case of inconsistency

In the event of any inconsistency between the Sinhala and Tamil texts of this Act, the Sinhala text shall prevail.