Sports Minister to change Sports Law regulations to accommodate proper 'Elections Committees'
The national sports regulations, which were amended several times during the last five years, are to be further changed with the Sports Minister intending to take over the power of appointing Elections Committees of national sports bodies.
This is particularly because the Minister thinks the independence of members selected is in question under the prevailing system where appointments are made by incumbent administrators. The Minister announced his intentions when he met representatives from all 63 registered sports bodies this week to gather their views on how to make appointments to Election Committees more transparent and democratic.
New regulations will accordingly be gazetted soon to allow the Minister to do the selections. He said retired judges will be made members. He was backed by all but Thilanga Sumathipala, former head of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), who opposed the move saying it amounted to political interference. He asked the Minister to reconsider his decision.
The Sumathipala administration was accused of flouting the election process with a court ruling seeing the election scheduled for May 31, 2018, being annulled when the process was challenged in the Court of Appeal.
Under existing regulations, national sports associations shall have the powers to specify the procedure for election, removal, qualification, composition, term and the responsibilities of the members of the Election Committee. The Election Committee should be appointed at a Special General Meeting.
The Minister’s latest move is likely to further delay the SLC election. The sports body has been administered by a Competent Authority appointed by the Minister of Sports following a court order on May 30.
On July 4, however, the Court of Appeal vacated the earlier interim injunction and asked the Sports Ministry to set a timeframe to conduct elections under existing laws.
One month after the polls were postponed, the International Cricket Council (ICC) asked SLC to hold elections within six months or face suspension. The ICC does not recognise politically-appointed committees, a decision they reached some years ago to rid the game of political interference.