Abstract:
Effectiveness of modern agriculture and rapid environmental degradation is a matter that has
to be addressed when dealing with the topic of environmental protection under the area of law and
agriculture. Constitution of Sri Lanka provides few mechanisms to protect environment and Public
Trust Doctrine (PTD) can be utilized as a remedial opportunity for challenges arising from modern
agriculture. Combination of Article 3 and Article 4 of the 1978 constitution creates PTD in Sri
Lanka. The doctrine states that the government is deemed to be the trustee of the natural resources
of the country which must be held in the interest of people as beneficiaries. It is widely interpreted
as the present generation holds the natural resources in trust for the future generations. In
establishing the PTD, major lacunas can be identified in Sri Lankan legal system such as; doctrine
is only recognized partially by the constitution as an entrenched provision, doctrine is vague as no
specific criterions designed for its applicability, judiciary has no specific jurisdiction to deal with
the matters connected with the doctrine other than the fundamental rights jurisdiction and no
specific mechanism is available to people to commence litigations where the PTD is violated. The
study discusses the information collected from law books, journals and articles written by public
law experts to study how the application of the doctrine has to be adopted according to Sri Lankan
legal framework and to overcome legal issues arising when implement the PTD. It is recommended
that to adopt a people closer constitutional mechanism to safeguard the PTD as it automatically
encourages the judicial activism in the country as the guardian of sovereignty in Sri Lanka
