General Sir John Kotelawala Memorial trophy Moot Court Competition organized by the Moot Court and Debating Society of the Faculty of Law, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (MCDS-KDU) was held on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of March 2025. This is the only local moot court competition focusing on Domestic Criminal Justice System of Sri Lanka aiming to provide a platform for enthusiastic Law Students from all Law Schools in the country to sharpen their advocacy skills and an opportunity to explore the intricacies of the domestic legal system.
Preliminary and Semi-Final Rounds of the Competition took place on a virtual platform, while the two outstanding teams that made it to the Final Round, were hosted at the FGS Auditorium. The result of several months’ efforts by the Society, the Competition involved participants from twenty two Law Schools in Sri Lanka, including those from General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, University of Colombo, University of Peradeniya, Open University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Law College, Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology (APIIT), Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) and National School of Business Management (NSBM ), American National College (ANC) and Royal Institute of Colombo (RIC)
Over twenty teams put up a spirited battle for the Championship, with the team from Royal Institute of Colombo ultimately emerging as Champions in the Oral Rounds, while the team from APIIT Colombo becoming the Runner-up. Demonstrating exceptional advocacy skills, Ms. Adithya Ekanayake from the University of Peradeniya won the award for Best Oralist, with Menura Perera from KDU becoming the Best Oralist Runner-up.
The Spirit of the Moot Award was won by the team from the University of Peradeniya Team A. RIC Team A won the Best Appellant Memorandum award, while NSBM Team A secured the Runner-up award. The Best Respondent Memorandum award was jointly claimed by CFPS Team B and Law College Team A, while ANC Team B won the Best Respondent Memorandum Runner-up award.
Mr.Mohan Peris PC the Former Chief Justice and Sri Lanka’s Former Permeant Representative to the United Nations , Justice Lakshman Dehideniya, former Judge of the Supreme Court and Current Chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Mr. Shanaka Wijesinghe PC Additional Solicitor General, Attorney General’s Department, functioned as an adjudicators of the Final Round of the Competition.
Vice Chancellor of KDU Rear Admiral HGU Dammika Kumara, VSV, USP, psc, MMaritime Pol, Bsc was the Chief Guest of the Awarding Ceremony. Maj. General Chinthaka Wickramasinghe USP USACGSC. Deputy Vice Chancellor ( Defence and Administration ), KDU, Mangala Wijesinghe Esq. Dean, Faculty of Law, KDU and Col. Ramindu Hasantha RSP psc. Dean, Faculty of Defence and Strategic Studies, KDU also graced the event.
During the course of the event the e-version of the Issue I, Volume 5 of the KDU Law Journal was released by the Vice Chancellor.
