Right of Reply: Nagananda Kodituwakku

Public interest litigation activist, solicitor and Attorney-at-Law Nagananda Kodituwakku with reference to the article titled ‘Nagananda withdraws case against Maliban Lemon Puff’ published in the Daily FT of 11 October, has said the article was completely misleading and flawed and sent the following statement:

The case against Maliban Ltd. was filed in the Court of Appeal to stop misleading the gullible consumers that Maliban Lemon Puff biscuits contained real lemon cream.

On 4 October 2021 when this matter was taken up, the Attorney General Informed the Court that the 1st Respondent, Standard Institute had conducted a proper audit further to the complaint made by me, and then the Counsel for the Maliban Lemon Puff informed the Court that with effect from 31 December 2020 the company had stopped using the label with the wordings of “real lemon cream”.

Accordingly, the action was withdrawn by me since the purpose had been served yet retaining the right to file a fresh application if any further violation occurred.

However, the report published in the Daily FT was a complete falsehood, which stated as follows: “The Court asked Nagananda to present any new evidence to back his claim which Kodituwakku failed to do. He simply claimed that he knew his position to be true. Satisfied with the evidence at hand, the Appeal Court asked Kodituwakku whether he wished the Court to make an order or instead withdraw his case and Nagananda opted for the latter and withdrew the case.”

As per the judgment pronounced by the Court, you will observe that your reporter had completely misled the reader.

Editor’s Note: We regret the error and any inconvenience caused due to the original article.