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The matter was taken up for support before President of Court of Appeal Justice Arjuna Obeysekera, and Justice Mayadunne Corea, following which notice was issued returnable on 15 March.
The 12 Petitioners in the case are former cricketers Michael Tissera, Sidath Wettimuny, Muttiah Muralitharan, Justice (Retd.) Saleem Marsoof PC, Dinal Phillips PC, Kushil Prasanna Gunasekera, Dr. Palitha Kohona, Rienzie Wijetilleke, Vijaya Malalasekera, Ananda Gamini Gardiya Punchihewa, Somasundaram Skandakumar and Thilan Wijesinghe.
The Respondents include Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka Cricket President Shammi Silva and 17 other office bearers of SLC.
The Petitioners state that given the overarching impact that cricket has on the passionate cricket-loving public, the country and its economy, this application has been made purely in the public and national interests to ensure the proper management and administration of the governing body responsible for the promotion of cricket in Sri Lanka.
The Petitioners state they have invoked the jurisdiction of the Court at this juncture, when Sri Lanka Cricket has suffered acutely deteriorating fortunes and suffered persistent occurrences of mismanagement, financial and cricketing debacles, which are effectively self-inflicted, as a result of dishonest, power hungry and corrupt officials and office bearers being at the helm. The Petitioners seek the intervention of Court in order, even at this belated stage, to resurrect SLC, which it is not an exaggeration to state is ailing, and to ameliorate its status and condition and the standards, interest, and quality of cricket in Sri Lanka that have continued to rapidly regress and degenerate.
The Petitioners are seeking from the Court:
1) A mandate in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus, directing the First Respondent, being the Minister of Sports, and/or his successor/s, to duly and forthwith, act under and in terms of Section 31(b) and section 31(c) of the Sports Law No.25 of 1973, and to prescribe by Regulation/s and/or amending Regulation/s, the composition and constitution of Sri Lanka Cricket and/or the substantive manner and form in which Sri Lanka Cricket should be composed and constituted hereinafter, notwithstanding any existing constitution of SLC.
2) An independent and autonomous apex governing body, consisting of a Board of Directors and/or such other apex governing body having any other appropriate appellation or moniker, comprising of a Chairman and such other number of Directors and/or having such other appellation, appointed by the Minister.
3) That the said Board of Directors shall be strictly independent, with no conflict of interest whatsoever, and that all members appointed thereto, shall duly be subjected to a fitness and proprietary test prior to appointment.
4) Appoint a Consultant from the International Cricket Council (ICC) to specifically advise the aforementioned independent Board of Directors of SLC to expeditiously draft and promulgate a new Constitution for SLC and hold elections under such Constitution.
5) That the members so appointed to the Board, shall include:-
a. The Director General of Sports, who shall be the ex officio Chairman of the Board.
b. The Auditor General of Sri Lanka or his nominee who shall not be below the post of an Additional Auditor General, and whose department shall audit the accounts of Sri Lanka Cricket.
c. The Secretary to the Treasury or his nominee, who shall not be below the post of a Deputy Secretary to the Treasury.
d. Five members who are former Sri Lanka cricketers who have represented the country at international level for at least three years, and whose accomplishments have accorded them a status of international repute in the cricketing arena, but who however have no financial or other commercial interest in Sri Lanka Cricket and who are neither directly or indirectly connected to any business partner, agent or representative of SLC, and who possess an unblemished track record.
e. One member who is a retired judge of either the Supreme Court or Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka.
f. One member who is a Senior President’s Counsel of high repute.\
g. Three members from the private corporate sector, of the highest credentials, who have accomplished themselves in the corporate world and possess unimpeachable creditworthiness.
h. One member who is a professionally qualified accountant of high repute.
6) Issue a mandate in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus prescribing and directing that all Committees and Sub-Committees, including the Executive Committee presently functioning within the structure of Sri Lanka Cricket, shall be subject to the overarching authority and jurisdiction of the aforesaid Board of Directors.
7) Without prejudice to the foregoing reliefs, issue a mandate in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus, directing the First Respondent, the Minister of Sports, and/or his successor/s, to duly and forthwith issue all such remedial general and special directions in writing, under and in terms of Section 39(1) of the Sports Law No.25 of 1973, to Sri Lanka Cricket, which is a National Association of Sports, with regard to the a) Exercise, b) Discharge and c) Performance of its powers, functions and duties, as well as those of its office bearers and officials and officers, in such manner, as to secure the efficacious functioning of SLC, the urgent elevation of the standard of the game of cricket in Sri Lanka, both at a domestic and international level, as well as for the eradication of corruption and abuse of power and to ensure due financial proprietary and compliance with best practices, transparency and good governance and also to ensure prudential investment/s, and such other directing including but not limited to all putting in place such other measures which are dedicated towards the smooth, viable and profitable administration of SLC.
8) Issue a mandate in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus, directing the First Respondent, the Minister of Sports, and/or his successor/s, to duly and forthwith enforce due and expeditious compliance with all such written directions issued by him, and in the event of any non-compliance therewith, duly act in terms of sections 32(b) and (c) of the Sports Law No.25 of 1973 read with Section 39(1) thereof, and impose the punitive sanctions permitted by the said section 32(b) and (c).
9) In any event, without prejudice to the aforesaid, given the generality and wide amplitude of the powers vested in the Minister by section 32(b) and section 32(c), both per se and simplicter, and given the paramount duty of the Minister to ensure the success of SLC and of the game of cricket in Sri Lanka, issue a mandate in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus, directing the First Respondent, the Minister of Sports, and/or his successor/s, to duly and forthwith consider the adoption of all such action as he may consider fit, under the said section 32(b) and (c), given the abysmal status of SLC, as a matter of a last resort.
10) In and/or during the course of the due compliance by the First respondent and/or his successors/s with the orders of the Court and the writs of Mandamus that may be issued, direct the said First Respondent and/or his successors/s to duly seek and obtain the advice of the members of the National Sports Council, under and in terms of section 4 of the Sports Law No.25 of 1973.
11) Without prejudice to the specificity of the foregoing prayer, in any event, issue a mandate in the nature of a writ of Mandamus, directing the First Respondent and/or his successor/s to duly seek and obtain the advice of the members of the National Sports Council, under and in terms of section 4 of the Sports Law No.25 of 1973, for the purpose of the due “promotion, development and control” of the sport of Cricket in Sri Lanka.
Without prejudice to any of the foregoing, and given the special exigencies and circumstances attendant upon and confronting both Sri Lanka Cricket, which in turn constitute a direct threat to the very game of cricket in Sri Lanka, which require especially urgent remedial measures, the Petitioners plea is for the Court to issue a mandate in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus, directing the First Respondent to duly move and/or to cause urgent legislation to be passed by Parliament in the form of a dedicated Act of Parliament/Statute to govern and administer Sri Lanka Cricket and/or such other body established by such statute, for the purpose of governing and administering the game of cricket in Sri Lanka and to move such legislation to accord Sri Lanka Cricket and/or such other body, an independent and autonomous status, free from external interference and influence, and also rendering such body accountable in law, by and through the Minister, to Parliament, or to the Cabinet of Ministers and/or to the President of Sri Lanka and/or to such independent authority/entity as permissible in law or as to what the Court shall seem appropriate.
Attorneys Sanjeeva Jayawardena President’s Counsel with Dr. Milhan Mohamed appeared for the Petitioners instructed by Sudath Perera Associates.
