ICC sets 9 Feb as election deadline for SLC

• 4-member management committee to be appointed to run SLC affairs alongside the Sports Ministry-appointed Competent Authority
• Sports Minister Faiszer Mustapha and team give reassurances to ICC during meeting in Dubai

 

By Madushka Balasuriya

Sri Lanka Cricket will hold its board elections on 9 February next year at the latest, SLC has confirmed, after a delegation including Sports Minister Faiszer Mustapha personally petitioned the International Cricket Council for more time.

Others in the delegation which met ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar and CEO David Richardson were SLC Competent Authority Kamal Pathmasiri, Senior Deputy Solicitor General of the Attorney General’s Department Sumathi Dharmawardena, and SLC CEO Ashley De Silva.

A four-member management committee is also to be appointed to run SLC affairs alongside the Sports Ministry-appointed Competent Authority, which has been running day-to-day operations since 31 May.

Sri Lanka Cricket elections have been delayed indefinitely since 31 May after a Court of Appeal, adjudicating on a petition filed against then SLC President Thilanga Sumathipala by SLC presidential candidate Nishantha Ranatunga, found that election protocol had been flouted.

The petition itself had sought to disqualify Sumathipala’s candidacy on grounds of his familial relations to Sri Lanka’s gaming industry. However, the Court, while refusing that request, instead found in their deliberations constitutional discrepancies in election procedure, and subsequently stayed elections. Since then, the court of appeal has lifted the ban. However, the ongoing court case against Sumathipala has meant elections have failed to materialise. This has drawn the ire of the ICC, who have been critical in the past about undue government interference in SLC affairs.

Mustapha’s meeting with the ICC was to ease any concerns on the part of the world governing body, as well as to avoid any possible sanctions.

As such, Mustapha provided assurances to the ICC that a fresh election committee consisting of two retired judicial officials of High Court and above and a retired senior member of the Election Commission of Sri Lanka, or any retired public official with experience in conducting elections, will be appointed by the SLC general membership at least a month prior to elections. Thereafter, the Committee will vet and finalise the voters list. There will also be a one-week period allocated for any party to contest the appointment of the election committee to an appellate body consisting of three retired Supreme Court judges.