Crudia zeylanica: Powers vested in Devani Jayathilaka discussed

There are various opinions regarding the intervention of Gampaha District Forest Officer Devani Jayathilaka to protect the plant which has been identified as the oldest surviving Crudia zeylanica plant in the world.

Some accused her of trying to 'emerge' in an unwarranted manner without realizing her powers. Minister C.B. Mr. Ratnayake had also stated in Parliament.

Did Devani Jayathilaka go beyond the limits of her powers?

Environmental lawyer Dr. Jagath Gunawardena has posted a special note on his Facebook account regarding her powers to protect the environment.

The full text is below.

"One of the most talked-about incidents these days is the intervention of Gampaha Divisional Forest Officer Devani Jayatilake of the Forest Department to save the Crudia zeylanica tree last Sunday.

I am responding to inquiries that she has no legal authority to do so and that some parties have commented that it is beyond their power.

According to Section 60 of the Forest Conservation Ordinance, all forest officers in the department were made peace officers.

Accordingly, the Forest Officers have full powers to exercise the powers conferred on them by the various provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Article 32 of the Criminal Procedure Code has the power to arrest a person who commits a minor offence without a warrant.

Article 35 has even more powers, but it will not be necessary to elaborate on this point.

According to Section 67A of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, all offences in the Act are designated as signal offences.

This plant is a protected species as it is included in the 8th Schedule under Section 42 of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance.

Therefore, in this case, the trees in question had the necessary powers to arrest, even those who were engaged in harmful activities. But it is noteworthy that no such drastic action was taken there.

In addition, Section 66 of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance has the power to appoint designated officers who are empowered to enforce the Act. Accordingly, the power to implement the powers of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance has been vested in the Department of Wildlife Conservation as well as the Department of Forest Conservation by an Order published in Gazette Notification No. 9773 dated 24-09-1947. Similarly, under Section 66 of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, the same powers were later vested in the Police.

The powers vested in me by the Gazette Notification No. 9773 dated 24-09-1947 were first exercised during my legal career by District Forest Officer Lalith Gamage in the 1990s. (As far back as I can remember in 1996). That was in the case of a raid on an illegally collected Tree Fern plant in Nuwara Eliya and a successful case in which the suspects were convicted.

Since then, for more than two decades, there have been a number of Forest Department officials who have successfully acted in accordance with this order to protect wildlife.

Therefore, this is the most recent and most significant contribution of the Department of Wildlife to the Department of Wildlife Conservation in protecting Sri Lanka's wildlife resources.

Therefore, I commend and commend Ms. Devani for taking the right steps in this case. "