• An awardee of a deed of gift will have the legal redress to take back his or her gift in the event of cruel treatment

By Sandun A Jayasekera

Justice Minister Ali Sabry PC, has submitted three cabinet memos on Monday to amend two pieces of law to rectify a long felt legal constraint in respect of Deed of Gifts and Registration of Marriages in order to provide relief to those affected.   

Accordingly, an awardee of a deed of gift will have the legal redress to take back his or her gift in the event of cruel treatment, expulsion from property or house, fraud, gross ingratitude or any other ill treatment meted out to him or her by the beneficiary of the deed of gift via a motion revoking the deed of gift in Court.   

Up to now, it has been an extremely tedious and expensive legal exercise to cancel a Deed of Gift. The relevant laws will be amended for the purpose. The Legal Draftsman is in the process of drafting the amendments.   
In line with another positive legal amendment proposed by Minister Sabry, the Marriage Registration Ordinance will be amended to legalize marriages, divorces or separations of expatriate Sri Lankans registered in foreign countries in Sri Lanka as well.   
This legal provision did not exist in Sri Lanka up to now.   
Meanwhile, in another Cabinet paper presented by Labour Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva, amendments will be brought in to enact legal provisions to hear labour disputes at Labour Tribunals as well as at Magistrate Courts.   

A large number of labour disputes involving the violation of labour laws and ordinances by employers have been piled up at Magistrate Courts with several years for their adjudication. With the proposed amendments, the LTs will also get the authority to hear these cases also. 
  
The labour disputes are arbitrated at only LTs right now.   

These amendments are introduced, considering the massive amount of labour disputes piled up at Magistrate Courts.   

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*It has been an extremely tedious and expensive legal exercise to cancel a Deed of Gift