The  Justice Minister of Sri Lanka, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, has issued an extraordinary gazette notification allowing the use of English language for all record-keeping and proceedings in the Commercial High Courts. This decision, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers and in alignment with Article 24(4) of the Constitution, permits the conduct of litigation entirely in English within the realms of commercial, company, admiralty, and arbitration matters in the Commercial High Court.

The rationale behind this decision, as highlighted by the Cabinet, stems from the predominance of commercial activities conducted in English within the commerce sphere. The necessity of translating these materials into Sinhala, the official language of Sri Lanka, incurs both significant costs and time delays. By authorizing English as the court language in these specialized courts, the government aims to streamline legal proceedings, reduce translation expenses, and expedite the resolution of commercial disputes.