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Nishantha Ranatunga takes on the Sports Minister!

07 Apr 2021

[caption id="attachment_128954" align="alignleft" width="358"] Colts CC President and former SLC Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga[/caption]

In a remarkable turnaround of events, former Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Secretary and present Water Supply and Drainage Board Chairman Nishantha Ranatunga has directly accused Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa in a letter to the Secretary of Ministry of Youth and Sports Anuradha Wijekoon yesterday (6).

In a letter dated 5 April, Ranatunga, as the President of the Colts Cricket Club, has said the following:

“We believe that either the date in the said purported Gazette notification is a mistake, or this is an act of fraud carried out by someone in the (Sports) Ministry. In either event, this disparages the conduct of the official functions of the Ministry, and raises very serious questions, and casts severe doubts as to the proper execution of official acts by the Secretary of the Ministry and the Hon. Minister.”

Ranatunga and his Colts CC Secretary Brig. Shiran Abeysekera had thus written to the Sports Ministry Secretary with regard to last week’s Sports Ministry gazette (2215/30) which extended the term of current SLC office-bearers from 17 February to 5 April 2021.

Colts officials on 20 February had informed the Sports Ministry that the current SLC ex-co’s two-year term had expired on 20 February. They also alleged certain decisions and the passing of the annual accounts too had been made after their term was officially over and, therefore, the leading officials of SLC had violated the Sports Law and have no legal right to face any future election.

It was due to this protest that Attorney General (AG) Dappula de Livera recommended the Sports Ministry to appoint an independent administrative body to run SLC until its 20 May election.

Following that recommendation, the Sports Minister appointed a five-member committee effective from Monday (5). The appointment was made in the said 2215/30 gazette which also notified the extension of the current SLC ex-co’s term.

In such a context, the gazette was viewed by some parties allegedly as a lifeline given to the Shammi Silva-led SLC over their rivals in a possible legal battle in future.

“However, to our great shock and disbelief, now it came to our cognizance that a purported Gazette notification has been issued dated 17th February 2021 (2215/30) extending the term of the office bearers of the Executive Committee of SLC up to 5th April 2021.

“This Gazette notification has in fact, appeared out of thin air suddenly, as this purported Gazette notification was not there before. We are confident that on or about 17th February 2021 this purported Gazette notification was not there, and even on or about 20th February 2021, when we wrote to the Hon. Minister of Sports for the first time, this purported Gazette notification did not exist,” the Colts letter yesterday pointed out.

Not stopping there, the Colts hierarchy has inquired, in a letter dated 5 April, from the Information Officer of the Dept. of Govt. Printing under Article 14A of the Constitution and the Right to Information Act No. 12 of 2016 the following:

(i) when was the said 17 February 2021 2215/30 gazette received by the Govt. Printing Dept., (ii) when was it actually published, (iii) when was it available to the public, (iv) why was it back-dated, and (v) under whose instructions and directions was it published by the Dept.
Following the AG recommendations, SLC had come under the purview of the special five-member administrative body from Monday (5).


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