DISQUALIFICATION OF SLC HOPEFULS LEGAL - Chulananda

Secretary to the Minister of Sports and Competent Authority of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Chulananda Perera yesterday denied any partisanship in the SLC election appeals process, stating that the Ministry appointed Advisory Committee had strong legal grounds in disqualifying two candidates from the elections.

I can say that the decisions that have been arrived at by the committee have been taken considering all relevant laws and regulations and without partisanship

The Advisory Committee has referred all documents that have been handed in and have taken a decision based on it

There are strong legal grounds for the decision the Committee has made, and we [the Sports Ministry] will take the necessary legal steps if the need arises

An Advisory Committee, comprising two retired Supreme Court judges Nimal Dissanayake and Devika Tennekoon, and retired Additional Director General of Sri Lanka Customs Dharmasena Kahandawa, was appointed by Sports Minister Harin Fernando to hear appeals regarding the decisions taken by the SLC elections committee.

While the elections committee had cleared all but one candidate, the Minister’s appeal committee disqualified Mohan de Silva and Ravin Wickramaratne from contesting on the grounds that they had been in previous SLC committees that had been dissolved by the respective Sports Ministers at the time.

De Silva has raised concerns that that decision, since learning of it through the media last Friday–the day the verdict was given—on multiple grounds, but none more damning than alleging that certain documents he had handed over to a Sports Ministry official, specifically defending his eligibility, had not reached the appeals committee.

The Advisory Committee’s report to the Minister states that de Silva had not addressed the objections raised against him by Jayantha Dharmadasa, though it does not directly indicate that de Silva had not produced documents to substantiate his eligibility.

Justifying its decision to disqualify de Silva the committee had stated in its report, “He [de Silva] had not endeavored to address the issue of the 03 objections taken against his nomination by Mr. Jayantha Dharmadasa.”

De Silva, for his part, maintains that Dharmadasa’s objections have been sufficiently addressed in the documents he handed over to the Sports Ministry.

The Competent Authority however, refused to directly address this allegation—that not all documents were given to the appeals committee—when addressing the media yesterday, stating instead: “The Advisory Committee has referred all documents that have been handed in and have taken a decision based on it. He can state this claim to the courts.”

“I can say that the decisions that have been arrived at by the committee have been taken considering all relevant laws and regulations and without partisanship,” Perera added.

“There are strong legal grounds for the decision the Committee has made, and we [the Sports Ministry] will take the necessary legal steps if the need arises.”

De Silva is expected to initiate legal action challenging the advisory committee’s recommendations within the week.

“I submitted relevant documents to support my counter-objection but it is evident by the reasons given in the report that those documents have not reached the appeals committee,” de Silva claimed, when he spoke to the .

“It is very clear from the documents I have given that the objections have been addressed,” de Silva further opined.