Netball clash at ‘Appeal Court’ on November 25
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The battles within the local netball administration is one of the key setbacks in Sri Lanka's global challenges
Barely three months after conducting its long overdue election, Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL) has been summoned to courts, after one of its strongest affiliates — the Mercantile Netball Association (MNA) — called the August 28 elections ‘undemocratic’.
After much deliberation, the MNA has sought legal assistance to dissolve the governing body for netball, citing that the office bearers elected for the term of 2019/20 was done in an inappropriate manner.
The MNA has filed a case at the Appeal Court to dissolve the officials elected to the NFSL at its elections on August 28. The Appeal Court is set to hear the case on November 25.
The complainant, MNA, has named the Minister of Sports, the Secretary of Ministry of Sports, its Director General, Election Committee and the SLNF office bearers elected as defendants of the case.
The SLNF was put under an interim administration as it has failed to change the term limit of its bearers in line with the Sports Regulations. According to the local Sports Law and the regulations gazetted therein, all sports governing bodies affiliated to the Ministry of Sports have to amend their respective constitutions in line with the law which allows two, four year terms to the elected members.
Former SLNF President Trixie Nanayakkara and her office bearers continued to serve office, assuming that its constitution has been duly amended, but was later forced to go for an election after being revealed that the change has not being done. The SLNF term in office continues to be an yearly affair, according to its existing constitution.
Later, Lakshmi Victoria was elected the new SLNF President on August 28, but the MNA had petitioned against ‘calling in nominations’ officially. The MNA stated that its petition was forwarded to the Provincial Appeal Committee, who had observed and recommended to ‘postpone’ the SLNF election from taking place on August 28.
The Provincial Appeal Committee, headed by Retired Appeal Court Judge Nimal Dissanayake, included former Deputy Sports Directors K.S. Peiris and N.K. Abeysinghe. The three-member committee, in their report of observation and recommendations, noted that the SLNF had not followed the due protocols in ‘calling in nominations’, ‘acceptance of its affiliations’, ‘accepting nominations’, which were not in line of its own constitution and the Sports Law of Sri Lanka.
Based on the observations, the committee had recommended that the SLNF could conduct its elections after amending the clause of ‘affiliates should take part in three competitions’ to ‘affiliates should take part in at least one competition’ or call off the elections temporarily. The committee also outlined the importance of giving SLNF’s affiliates to be part of its elections to preserve democracy.
The President of MNA, Sanjeewani Wanasinghe had given her consent to contest for the position of SLNF President, but she did not appear at the elections, despite forwarding her nomination. The MNA had opposed the election stating that only the three active affiliates should be called in for voting at the election. SLNA has a membership of 34 affiliates, but majority of them are inactive, according to a report forwarded to the Ministry of Sports by the former netball chief President Trixie Nanayakkara.