Minister of Sports Harin Fernando yesterday (12) announced that he has signed a new Gazette Notification to revoke the decision appointing an Interim Committee for Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the national governing body of the sport.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the Minister said the move is an effort to lift the suspension imposed on SLC by the International Cricket Committee (ICC).
The Minister has also written to the ICC, seeking their observations on the Auditor General’s report on the national cricket body, and to the Attorney General’s Department for future action.
“Today, I signed a Gazette to revoke the decision appointing an Interim Committee for Sri Lanka Cricket, aiming to lift our ICC suspension. I’ve also written to the ICC, seeking their observations on the Auditor General’s report on SLC, and to the AG’s Dept for future actions”, the Minister wrote in his official X.
Earlier, in November former Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Roshan Ranasinghe sacked the elected board and appointed an Interim Committee, chaired by former World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga, to take over the affairs of SLC after the executive committee was suspended over allegations of irregularities, corruption, misconduct and dereliction of duties and responsibilities.
The ICC suspended Sri Lanka as a result, saying the board had failed to prevent political interference in the administration of the game.
Following the appointment of the Interim Committee, SLC wrote to the ICC on the matter, while Parliament also voted to suspend the office bearers of the SLC.
Taking the developments into consideration, ICC imposed a ban on Sri Lanka Cricket citing political interference.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe also stepped in sacking Roshan Ranasinghe from all his ministerial portfolios, including Sports, to which he appointed Minister Harin Fernando.
(ceylontoday.lk)
