SGM on May 13 and elections only after June 22
Thilanga Sumathipala talking to his stakeholders during the last EGM
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) ran into a major controversy on Friday after the Attorney General’s (AG) Department questioned the legality of the scheduled election saying the country’s richest sports body has contravened the Sports Regulations in force.
SLC scheduled its election of office bearers for May 19 with nominations set to close on Friday (April 27). But the AG’s directive means the election will now be postponed to late June.
SLC yesterday confirmed a Special General Meeting will now be held on May 13 to reconstitute the Elections Committee to conduct the Elective Annual General Meeting (AGM), a mandatory requirement under the Sports Regulations gazetted in October 2016.
According to these rules, all National Sports Associations (NSAs) should “hold a Special General Meeting to elect the members for the Elections Committee”. However, SLC formed a five-member committee through its Executive Committee without a mandate from the general membership to do so.
The Sports Regulations also cite that all NSAs should give notice at least 40 days prior to the AGM to its affiliates. This means that, if the notices are dispatched along with a certified copy of the Audited Financial Statement soon after the SGM on May 13, the soonest elections could be held is on June 23rd.
The Executive Committee headed by Thilanga Sumathipala will continue to hold office on an interim basis until the elections are over. Their term ends on May 31.
SLC claimed they had followed written instructions from former Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera to appoint the Elections Committee through the Executive Committee for this year but the AG’s Department on Friday ruled that a minister’s directive or letter cannot overrule a regulation which amounts to a subsidiary legislation.
“Our position is when a regulation is in force which amounts to a subsidiary legislation it cannot be changed by a letter or a directive issued by a minister in-charge of the subject,” a senior legal source said. “Then you have to amend the regulations. Our advice is limited to a legal position and nothing else.”
Hours before the nominations closed on Friday, Panduka Keerthinanda–a lawyer by profession and a former member of the National Sports Council–made a protest to Acting Sports Minister Faiszer Musthapha that the SLC has contravened the Sports Regulations when constituting the Election Committee.
The Minister then referred the matter to the AG’s department which in turn asked SLC to respect the regulations in force. Thus the nominations submitted will be canceled and fresh nominations are required to be called.