The faction led by Sudarma de Silva, whose objections raised in connection with his nomination to contest the post of vice president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) at its AGM has been rejected, says that he is waiting for the intervention of the Sports Minister.
When contacted, Sudarma de Silva said that if the Sports Minister does not intervene to mete out justice to him, he will institute legal action to seek redress in due course.
The AGM of the SLC for the 2025-27 term is scheduled to be held on 31 March.
The objections raised over the nominations submitted by de Silva, along with those by the factions of K. Mathivanan for president and Anura Weerasinghe for the post of treasurer respectively, have been dismissed by the five-member Election Committee (EC).
Weerasinghe has submitted his nomination from the Kalutara Physical and Culture Club.
The EC is headed by retired Court of Appeal Justice Malanie Gunaratne. “The EC did not grant us sufficient time to submit our nominations to the AGM,” Sudarma de Silva, who has been backed by the Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, said.
“As per the SLC constitution, a two-week time period has to be provided to file nominations for the AGM. But, this time around, the EC officially announced it on 17 January and closed acceptance of nominations at 3 p.m. on 22 January. They (EC) gave only three working days to submit nominations, which is a clear violation of the provisions of the constitution,” he said.
He further said that his faction has now decided to officially seek the intervention of the Sports Minister to remedy the situation.
He then warned, if there is no positive response from the subject minister, Ministry Secretary (Aruna Bandara), or from the DG of the ministry (Shemal Fernando), they will consider seeking redress from the Judiciary, as an aggrieved party.
“We will be writing to the minister shortly, for his intervention,” he explained, adding: “And if there is no prompt or positive response from him, then we will opt for legal recourse as the last resort.”
According to de Silva, the EC formed to supervise the Annual General Meeting, had also not given sufficient time for those whose nominations had been rejected to file objections over the same.
SLC former Vice President K. Mathivanan, when contacted, said that he too was currently monitoring the situation with several factions, who have been affected over the actions of the Malanie Gunaratne-helmed EC.
He, however, added that if there is no response to the rejection of his nomination, he too will petition the Court, in the name of justice and fair play.
Both Sudarma de Silva and K. Mathivanan, pointed out that the EC had concluded the acceptance of nominations on 22 January and had provided time only till 25 January from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. to file objections.
The upcoming AGM of Sri Lanka Cricket will be the first to be held under its amended much-maligned constitution, with the number of clubs affiliated to SLC and with voting rights being drastically trimmed from a sizeable 147 to 60.
The incumbent SLC President, who is also the head of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), Shammi Silva, is favoured to be returned for a fresh two-year stint at the AGM, set for late March. Sports Ministry officials were unavailable for comment.
(JK)