Kushil Gunasekera, seen here with Muttiah Muralitharan, spoke to the Sunday Morning Sports last week on behalf of the 12 petitioners who requested constitutional change to Sri Lanka Cricket[/caption]
Tomorrow (15), the Appeal Court of Sri Lanka will listen to the respondents of the 15 February writ petition by twelve “like-minded patriotic” members, who named themselves “civil society petitioners”. The petition basically sought a new Constitution for Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).
Meanwhile, visibly in a separate development, the story that did rounds the whole last week was that Youth and Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa might appoint an interim committee for the local cricket administration in the coming week.
SLC’s reaction
The SLC’s opposition party at the scheduled 20 May election believed and hoped the Sports Minister would actually do so, as we reported recently in these spaces, citing their concern that SLC’s current term was legally expired on 21 February and that the Shammi Silva administration is presently illegal.
SLC, responding on this “interim hullaballoo”, told Sunday Morning Sports that “the Honourable Minister has no justifiable reasons to appoint an interim committee while also raising the issues of practicality and existing contradictions between the SLC Constitution and the country’s Sports Law.
Gunasekera speaks
Today speaks to the Sunday Morning Sports on the issue is on of the prominent names among the said writ petitioners, Kushil Gunasekera. He is former SLC Interim Committee Vice President and the livewire of the famed charity, the Foundation of Goodness.
Gunasekera said on Friday (12) that their effort “is the last straw to save Sri Lanka’s cricket” from its current predicament. He also added that he would never be a member of any interim committee that could be appointed in future.
“The respondents will have to file objections on the 15th (tomorrow) as to why this (their request) should not be granted. Depending on what they will file, both the Attorney General’s Department for SLC and, Sanjeewa Jayawardena PC, for us, will present both their sides subsequently.”
Minister might be in agreement
He added the Sports Minister also might be in favour of the changes they yield.
“The Sports Minister might be in agreement to do the changes and amend the (SLC) constitution,” he said.
“I think Mahela Jayawardene, being the National Sports Council (NSC) Chairman --probably what I can sense--, is also towards this change. But I can’t tell you 100%,” he added.
“The way he also wanted to do some changes in the domestic infrastructure, for example, sometimes is in line with this petition. So Mahela is one of the main advisors to the Minister. And the Minister, I feel, will basically ask his NSC Chairman, who is also a former legendary cricket captain, about this matter,” Gunasekera argued.
[caption id="attachment_124477" align="alignleft" width="390"]
Kushil Gunasekera is former SLC Interim Committee Vice President and the livewire of the famed charity, the Foundation of Goodness[/caption]
A soft corner for SLC?
Can the Sports Minister be also having a soft corner, at this juncture, towards the current SLC ex-co, under Shammi Silva, as well as he being quite vociferous in opposing any kind of “interims” for SLC since recent times?
“I don’t think so. But even if this constitutional amendment goes through, then there must be a time span given to it, like the Lodha Committee in India. It will all be, at the end of the day, for the sincerity of the purpose.”
Nothing but a governance problem
“If it is not going to happen, there will be the same set of administrators, who ran the sport all those years, who will continue to run it in the same way right through to the next 25 years to come,” he quipped.
“We are on the very bottom of the current rankings in all three formats. But still cricket is a game that Sri Lanka can compete with anyone in the world. We have been in about six World Cup finals winning two. You can’t scoop down to this low level when you have abundance of talent in this country,” he stressed.
“If India could bring it down to 38 votes, why on earth we can’t bring it down here,” he asked. “My point is, what you have here is nothing but a governance issue,” he pointed out.
The clubs need not worry
“No matter who governs in future, but this petition is about changing the voting trend at SLC. The clubs won’t have to worry because if you have a good cricket team and if they have to be supported, they have to be supported. Won’t the clubs too will then try to bring better cricketers into the system,” he asked.
“That’s why I say this is the last straw.”
The 12 petitioners:
Muttiah Muralitharan, Sidath Wettimuny, Michael Tissera, Vijaya Malalasekera, Kushil Gunasekera, Somasundaram Skandakumar, Ana Punchihewa, Rienzie Wijetilleke, Dinal Phillips PC, Justice (Retd.) Saleem Marsoof PC, Dr. Palitha Kohona, and Thilan Wijesinghe