The appeal had been listed before a three-judge bench comprising Justices A.H.M.D. Nawaz, Sampath Abeykoon, and Gihan Kulatunga. At the start of proceedings, Justice Nawaz informed court that he was recusing himself from the case due to personal reasons.
Accordingly, the bench ordered that the appeal be taken up again on September 9 before a newly constituted bench.
The original petition had been filed before the Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka in 2015 by the Center for Environmental Justice, challenging the clearing of forest lands in the area and the subsequent settlement of individuals allegedly linked to Bathiudeen and others.
Following hearings, the Court of Appeal ruled that Bathiudeen was responsible for the land clearing and directed him to bear the cost of reforestation through payments to the Department of Forest Conservation.
The Department of Forest Conservation later estimated the reforestation cost at approximately Rs. 1,060 million.
Bathiudeen subsequently filed an appeal before the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the ruling, claiming the Court of Appeal decision was unlawful.
Several Supreme Court judges, including Mahinda Samayawardhena, Yasantha Kodagoda, Janak de Silva, and Arjuna Obeyesekere, had previously recused themselves from hearing the matter.
