- Schools Association says yet to receive notice
Colombo District Court Judge Sandun Vithana thus imposed an interim injunction on the SLSCA and its officials until 8 April, preventing them from implementing a contentious demotion-relegation system over its two-day Inter-School Cricket Tournament.
The five schools that have instituted court proceedings against the SLSCA are Ananda College, Colombo; Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda; St. Joseph Vaz College, Wennappuwa; St. Sebastian’s College, Katuneriya; and St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy.
However, when contacted, SLSCA Deputy Secretary Kamal Indrajith said that they were yet to receive notice from the court regarding the lawsuit.
He said that to air any views to the press regarding the issue without having received notice from the court would be improper and insisted that once they received it, they would prepare for the lawsuit accordingly.
The petitioners are seeking fair play over what they allege to be an unreasonable demotion-relegation system put forth by the SLSCA for the benefit of certain schools, which they accuse of currying favour with the association.
This is over the SLSCA’s decision to demote four teams that had played in the two-day Inter-School Cricket Tournament organised by the schools body, when the previous practice had been to relegate only two teams.
The schools have prayed the court to deem that it would be unfair to downgrade four teams as it would seriously hinder performances and dash aspirations of budding cricketers while dealing a serious blow to efforts made to spread cricket throughout the country.
The aggrieved parties have also moved the court to rule that, henceforth, the SLSCA should select the two bottom-placed teams for promotion to the top tier from one segment without resorting to ad hoc decisions to suit their own agendas.
Afterwards, the District Court Judge noticed the respondent SLSCA and its officials to produce objections, if any, regarding the lawsuit filed by the petitioners at the next hearing.
Meanwhile, The Sunday Morning Sports also reliably learns that of the five schools who have petitioned the court against the SLSCA, three had conveyed to the governing body that they were not in any way involved in filing legal action against it, and as such, the action had been resorted to without their blessings.
The SLSCA is currently headed by Isipathana College, Colombo 5 Principal Oshara Panditharathna with Leelananda Kumarasiri of Theraputta National School, Ambalantota functioning as its Secretary. The case is to be heard next on the said date.