The legal turmoil surrounding Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) continues as the court has ordered a rule returnable in the contempt of court case against the Director General (DG) of Sports Shemal Fernando. This means that the respondents must show cause, at the next hearing scheduled for March 23. Despite being issued notice, the concerned parties failed to appear in court. Now, with formal notice issued by the court, the case will proceed on the given date.
The DG and the Attorney General failed to appear for the contempt of court proceedings initiated by Provincial Unions. The DG had upheld an appeal court ruling that mandated the conduct of the SLR AGM on January 21. However, the DG cited a letter from Asia Rugby President Qais Abdullah Al Dhalai, addressed to the Prime Minister as to certain nomination to the SLR is not correct. One understand if the Asian Rugby President has the mandate to make any objections to SLR constitution and as to what the DG Sports Dr. Shemal Fernando entertains this when a court order was given for the conduct of SLR AGM and elections committee was appointed by the sports ministry.
According to analyists, once the Election Committee is appointed by the Sports Ministry – comprising two High Court judges, a public servant, a ministry official and a representative from the Sports Ministry – the SLR constitution becomes the governing authority. According to the SLR constitution, only stakeholders within SLR can raise objections regarding nominations and neither World Rugby (WR) nor Asia Rugby (AR) have any standing in this matter. The court has now granted permission to proceed with the case. The Election Committee overseeing the SLR election is chaired by retired High Court Judge G.S. Edirisinghe, with other members including retired High Court Judge Piyasena Ranasinghe, Bandula Dahanayake, National Olympic Committee (NOC) Chairperson Suresh Subramanium and Sports Ministry Secretary Anura Bandara.
The report of the Election Committee has been sent to the sports Ministry and to the AG department for further action.
(TBR)
