Dandeniya shuttles ahead amidst protests
As the Annual General Meeting of the Sri Lanka Badminton Association which was to be held on January 25, 2015 was postponed and nominations for a fresh AGM is to be called in the near future. A letter of protest had been sent to the Director General of Sports objecting to the special permission that was granted by the Minister of Sports to the incumbent President of the Association Suraj Dandeniya to be nominated for a second 2-year term.
The letter signed by the Secretary General, Northern Province BA, Secretary General, Eastern Province BA, President, Western Province BA, and the Secretary, Government Services Sports Society citing the Sports Regulations of 15 January 2013 Suraj Dandeniya cannot be a candidate for the post President of the SLBA. According to the Clause 13(1) of the Sports Regulations that Dandeniya is not eligible for re-election having served a 2-year term of office already and according to Clause 14 of the Regulations he is not eligible for nomination as he has not represented Sri Lanka.
Sunday Times first contacted the Minister of Sports, Navin Dissanayake and he said that if anyone will be granted permission to contest as long as he is not accused of any financial irregularities and malpractices in administration. The Minister also said that anyone or party will be granted permission to come forward and to face election at any Annual General Meeting. Considering the performance of Dandeniya in his last term of office the Minister had granted permission to seek another term.
The letter stated prior to giving permission the Minister had to consider the items in Clause 13(2) of the Sports Regulations, Suraj Dandeniya does not meet up to the requirements in clause 13(2) because: (i) The President of the SLBA has not presented the audited annual accounts for 2014 even though he should have done so latest by end of February 2015 to satisfy the requirements of the SLBA Constitution (ii) Submitting completely fraudulent documents to the World Badminton Federation which were exposed by the SLBA Affiliates (iii) Under the present President Sri Lanka badminton has reached the lowest international rankings (iv) Running most of time without a Selection Committee (v) Defying the Education Ministry regulations in collecting money from schoolchildren who represent Sri Lanka at junior level abroad (vi) As Dandeniya had served for 2 consecutive years he is not eligible for re-election (vii) In April 2013 through an election which was considered blatantly fraudulent Dandeniya had come into SLBA.
Speaking to the Sunday Times Suraj Dandeniya denied every allegation and said that during his term of office SLBA had made every effort to uplift the game of badminton and at the moment Sri Lanka is in a higher ranking position in the World Rankings and the affairs of the body is in order. He also said that everyone has the freedom to face an election at the Annual General Meeting and everyone has the liberty to go to any court of law and prove if any irregularities had taken place during his tenure at the SLBA.