Administration Of Justice (Amendment) Law

Administration Of Justice (Amendment) Law A LAW TO AMEND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE LAW, NO. 44 OF 1973. BE it enacted by the National State Assembly of the Republic of Sri Lanka as follows : Short title. 1. This Law may be cited as the Administration of Justice (Amendment) Law, No. 31 of 1975. Amendment of section 81 of the Administration of Justice Law, No. 44 of 1973. 2. Section 31 of the Administration of Justice Law, No. 44 of 1973, is hereby amended as follows: – (a) by the renumbering of subsections (3) and (4) of that section as subsections (4) and (5) respectively of that section; and (b) by the insertion, immediately after subsection (2) of that section, of the following new subsection: – “(3) Notwithstanding the provisions contained in subsections (1) and (2), a Magistrate’s Court shall have jurisdiction to hear, try and determine all prosecutions against any person in respect of any such offence as is, for the purposes of this subsection prescribed by regulation, and to impose in respect of every such offence, a sentence of imprisonment or fine or both, not exceeding one-half of the sentence which a District Court may impose in respect of such offence: Provided that where, at any time before the verdict is recorded, the Director of Public Prosecutions, by writing, informs the Magistrate that he has forwarded or intends to forward an indictment against such person in respect of the offence with which such person is charged in the proceedings before the Magistrate’s Court or any other offence Committed in the same transaction in which such offence was committed, all further proceedings before the Magistrate’s Court against such person shall be discontinued and the Magistrate’s Court shall, thereupon, not have jurisdiction to try such person.”.