- Sports Minister and Arjuna Ranatunga’s wings clipped for next 14 days
A Sri Lankan court on Tuesday issued 14-day stay order preventing the operation of a seven-member Interim Committee appointed for the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the relevant gazette notification issued by Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe in this regard.
This order was delivered by a two-member bench after considering a writ petition filed by the Chairman of SLC Shammi Silva.
Accordingly, the court has issued three stay orders in total pertaining to the matter: the first to prevent the gazette issued by the Sports Minister appointing the interim committee for the SLC, the second to prevent the committee members chaired by Arjuna Ranatunga from acting in their respective positions and the third to prevent the respondents including the Sports Minister from interfering the activities of the petitioner and the other officials of cricket board.
Sri Lankan Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe on Monday appointed a seven-member Interim Committee for Sri Lanka Cricket, chaired by World Cup-winning former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga.
However, it was later reported that President Ranil Wickremesinghe had not been notified about the decision to appoint such a committee or the composition of its members.
However, the Minister told reporters in Colombo that the President’s approval is not required to appoint an interim committee, adding that he had taken the decision in accordance with the powers vested with him.
SLC have been under fire after the national team’s recent repeated defeats in the ongoing ICC World Cup.
In response to the interim order by the Court of Appeal, Sri Lanka Cricket’s Interim Committee Chairman Arjuna Ranathunga, and Committee Member Upali Dharmadasa left the SLC premises on Tuesday afternoon.
