SLC members ask for elections before end of August - SLC stakeholders
The group of former cricket administrators, who recently voiced their displeasure at Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake’s decision to appoint an Interim Committee to run the affairs of Sri Lanka Cricket, met representatives of the SLC membership yesterday, to enlighten them about the discussions with the Minister. Astatement released is as follows: We wish to inform you that we convened a meeting of the Membership of Sri Lanka Cricket yesterday where 63 representatives out of 85 were present, to enlighten them on the discussions we had with the Hon Minister with regard to the request made by him to hold the Annual General Meeting of SLC in January 2016.
It was the unanimous view of all present, that we should not delay the holding of theAGM any further and as such we should appeal to the Hon Minister to hold the AGM at least before 31st of August 2015.
The Membership was also concerned to a great extent the damage caused to Sri Lanka Cricket as an Institution in the eyes of the cricket loving public of our country with adverse media reports consequent to the cancellation of the AGM and the grave injustice caused to them by taking away their rights and privileges they enjoy as an independent institution, depriving them of electing Members of their choice as there were no justifiable reasons to do so.
The Members also discussed in detail some of the actions of the Interim Committee, particularly the borrowing of funds at exorbitant interest rates and the reduction in the number of player contracts which would have adverse effects on the future of Sri Lanka Cricket and changing of the club Cricket structure to give prominence to provincial structure.They also totally condemned and resented vehemently the comments made by the Chairman of the Interim Committee, Mr. SidathWettimuny at a recent press conference about the degeneration of Sri Lanka cricket to justify the restructuring of domestic tournaments, when in fact Sri Lanka cricket had progressed remarkably during the last 10 years as evident by the records.
As a result, it was the unanimous view of all present and they empowered the outgoing Members of the Executive Committee to act on behalf of them and seek legal advise to place the members of the Interim Committee on Notice and also to take whatever appropriate action necessary as the SLC will not be responsible for any transactions or agreements that the Interim Committee enters into with any other party.
It was brought to the notice of the membership that the CEO of ICC Mr David Richardson was making preparations to compile a report in early June for the ICC board meeting in June to be held in Barbados. At this stage the members voiced their strong concern about the dangers and the subsequent repercussions that may arise from the implementation of the regulations as per the ICC Governance guidelines with regard to the unjustifiable political interference in Member Boards and questioned the authorities as to who would accept the responsibility in the event of such an eventuality,
As such the members were of the unanimous view that we should make a strong appeal to the Hon. Minister to agree to hold the elections and resolve this issue amicably without any further delay in order to prevent serious consequences that could affect and create a tremendous impact on the game of cricket in our country.