Supreme Court annuls medal awarded by Peradeniya University

The decision taken by the administration of the University of Peradeniya to present the “Professor E.O.E. Pereira” gold medal, awarded to the best student of the Faculty of Engineering in 2015, to A.H. A.D. Abeysekara, an advisor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the said university, has been annulled by the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Justice Janak de Silva, with the concurrence of Justices Sobitha Rajakaruna and Mahinda Samayawardena, delivered the judgment following the hearing of a fundamental rights petition filed by Kalpana Manawadu, a resident of Moratuwa and an engineering graduate of the university, Ada Derana reporter said. 

The bench has also ordered the university to prepare a formal system for awarding these gold medals in the future.

The petitioner claims that she submitted her application for the gold medal in question on 09 March 2016.

The petitioner claims that the administration later announced that the scoring system had been changed and she subsequently submitted her application again.

However, the petition states that the university administration decided to award the gold medal in question to A.H. A. D. Abeysekara, an advisor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the university. 

Announcing the verdict, the bench noted that it appears that a formal and transparent scoring system was not implemented in the process of awarding this gold medal.

The bench also stated that this action has violated the petitioner’s fundamental human right to equal treatment before the law.

Accordingly, the court ruled that the decision taken by the university administration to award the relevant medal to A.H.A.D. Abeysekara will be made null and void.

However, as the prescribed period has lapsed, no order will be issued to award the gold medal to the petitioner, the judgment further stated.