The Court of Appeal has decided to take up for further consideration the petition against the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) interim committee, on Wednesday (22).

Accordingly, the President’s Counsel who appeared on behalf of the Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe before the court mentioned that no future actions will be taken regarding the gazette notification issued by the minister until the next court date. 

The relevant petition was taken up before the new panel of Appellate Court Judges named by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne as the previous bench recused themselves from hearing the relevant case.

The new bench was comprised of Justices Sobhitha Rajakaruna and D. N. Samarkoon, as per the decision made by the President of the Court of Appeal.

On 07 November, the Court of Appeal issued a 14-day stay order, preventing the operation of the seven-member Interim Committee appointed SLC and the relevant gazette notification issued by Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe in this regard.

The relevant order was issued by a two-member judge bench consisting of Appeals Court President Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne and Justice Vikum Kaluarachchi, upon consideration of 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.

Subsequently, on 13 November, Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe filed a motion requesting the lifting of the stay order issued by the Court of Appeal preventing the operation of the 7-member Interim Committee appointed by him for the SLC and the relevant gazette notification published in this regard.

The motion including the objections related to the relevant stay order, has been filed before the Appeals Court through Attorney-at-Law G.G. Arulpragasam.

A seven-member Interim Committee was appointed by Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe on 06 November, chaired by World Cup-winning former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga.

The interim committee consists of the following members: S. I. Imam, Retired Supreme Court Judge; Rohini Marasinghe, Retired Supreme Court Judge; Irangani Perera, Retired High Court Judge; Arjuna Ranatunga (Chairman); Upali Dharmadasa; Rakitha Rajapakshe, Attorney-at-Law; and Hisham Jamaldeen.