The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has annulled the University of Peradeniya’s decision to award the prestigious “Professor E.O.E. Pereira” gold medal—given annually to the best student of the Faculty of Engineering in 2015—to A.H.A.D. Abeysekara, an advisor in the university’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
The judgment, delivered by Justice Janak de Silva with the concurrence of Justices Sobitha Rajakaruna and Mahinda Samayawardena, followed a fundamental rights petition filed by Kalpana Manawadu, an engineering graduate from Moratuwa.
Manawadu alleged that despite submitting her application for the award in 2016, the university later altered the scoring system and awarded the medal to Abeysekara. The court noted that the university had failed to establish a formal and transparent system for evaluating candidates, thereby violating the petitioner’s fundamental right to equal treatment before the law.
While the court declared the university’s decision null and void, it did not order that the medal be awarded to the petitioner due to the lapse of the prescribed period. The bench also directed the University of Peradeniya to establish a proper and transparent system for awarding such honors in the future.
