FSL polls: Appeals against rejected nominations likely to be set aside on technical grounds

By Althaf Nawaz

The long awaited election of Football Sri Lanka (FSL) is scheduled to be on the 29th of this month in Colombo. All arrangements are being made under the supervision of FIFA and AFC officials who are due to arrive in the island early next week. 

At the outset, an independent election committee was approved by the FSL membership with almost 63 out of 67 leagues voting in favour of appointment of this committee. The election committee consisted of two prominent retired high court judges and one ‘A’ grade government official. Nominations were closed a few weeks ago and the decision of the election committee was published on 29 August, one month prior to the elections.  

Two camps are contesting the election, one led by Jaswar Umar a prominent football administrator who has the support of Ranjith Rodrigo and Dr. Manil Fernando, two prominent figures in the football arena, along with Saif Yoosuf, Jagath de Silva, A. Gaffar and many more. All the 13 candidates of Jaswar’s camp were accepted by both FSL election and appeal committee.

The other team is led by Dacshitha Sumathipala, a newcomer to football administration. He fielded 13 candidates from 7 leagues. However, 5 of them were rejected by the election committee for not meeting the statutory eligibility criteria.

On an appeal made to the FSL appeals committee, the nomination from the Schools Association was allowed to contest, while the other four, including that of presidential candidate, Dacshitha Sumathipala, were rejected.

Subsequently, Dacshitha’s camp appealed to the Minister of Sports and the grievances were heard by the Appeals Advisory Committee of the Ministry last Tuesday in the presence of all parties. The attorneys appearing for Jaswar’s team put forth several preliminary objections while written submissions will be done today.

Firstly, they have challenged the jurisdiction of the Appeals Advisory Committee to hear these appeals, as the Minister himself has promulgated an exemption for football for the upcoming election through a gazette on the 24 July 2023. Such gazette supersedes all gazettes related to the election part of the Football Federation. As such, the legal experts argue that what is stipulated in the FSL constitution becomes regulation only for football by law as it was guaranteed by a legal gazette.

Moreover, Anura de Silva, the former President of FSL, lodged several appeals against the nominations of Jaswar’s team with this Appeals Advisory Committee. The football fraternity questions how Anura de Silva is making appeals as he is not the head of the rival camp.

In addition to that, legal experts stress that De Silva has clearly missed the time limit to appeal to the Minister even if he is an aggrieved party. The election committee published its decision on the nominations on 29 August in media platforms. In terms of sports regulations, De Silva should have appealed within seven days of the decision to the Appeals Committee. Instead, he waited till the FSL Appeals Committee made a ruling and then went to the Minister to seek justice.

However, as per the sports regulation, the decision of the Election Committee is final and not the Election Appeals Committee. De Silva has lodged the appeal on 8 September instead of 5 September which was the last date to appeal according to the regulations. It is learnt that this objection was well perceived by the Appeals Advisory Committee led by Chairman Justice Chandra Jayatillake.

As per the legal experts, this technical reason alone is sufficient to set aside the appeals and to reject the same under technical grounds which is part of the law.

The reason to appeal was based on criteria for candidates published in two gazettes in December 2022. These two gazettes were challenged by several Sports Associations in the Court of Appeal. Subsequently, Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe along with Attorney General entered into an amicable settlement with parties to withhold the effect of the two gazettes till 1 November 2023. This settlement was reached at the Court of Appeal by all parties. Therefore, any prohibitions cited by De Silva are likely to be invalid.

In any case, all of these appeals have no merit according to the ruling of the FSL Election Appeals Committee.

Interestingly, De Silva has withdrawn two objections made against his two former allies Ranjith Rodrigo and Dr. Manil Fernando. Many people in football circles express that Jaswar Umar and his team are tipped to be favourites and are likely to secure overwhelming support at the election. 

FIFA and AFC delegates are expected to be in Sri Lanka well ahead of the election to strictly monitor the elections. FIFA has insisted that it will only accept the election without any third-party interference and if any interference occurs that will result in a longer period of suspension.

As a country, this election result will decide the fate of the Sri Lanka National Team, whether they will be allowed to play in the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in October. If FIFA does not recognize this election, irrevocable damage would be caused to Sri Lanka Football, including financial and sporting means. The football loving public expect that a free and fair election will be held without any third-party interference to restart football in the country.