The Sri Lankan board on Wednesday announced that it has filed a defamation suit against Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Roshan Ranasinghe over his ‘persistent and damaging defamatory statements’ about the board. As per a statement issued by Sri Lanka Cricket on 15 November, its President, Vice President, and Treasurer jointly filed a defamation lawsuit against the minister in the District Court of Colombo, seeking damages amounting to 2.4 Billion Sri Lankan rupees on behalf of the Sri Lanka Cricket.
“The continuous dissemination of false and harmful statements by the Minister of Sports has caused substantial harm to the image of Sri Lanka Cricket, both domestically and internationally,” said the SLC statement. It said that this step was required to safeguard the reputation of the organization and its members.
“The legal action aims to rectify the unwarranted damage inflicted on Sri Lanka Cricket’s standing in the sporting community,” SLC added, saying that legal proceedings initiated against the Minister of Sports underscore the organization’s dedication to upholding its principles and protecting its stakeholders from baseless allegations.
The action comes after Sri Lanka Cricket was suspended by ICC for ‘excessive government interference’ after the Sri Lankan team’s exit from the ongoing World Cup in India. On 10 November, ICC suspended SLC with immediate effect, after the board was sacked by the minister and then was reinstated by a court.
It is notable that troubles with the Sri Lankan cricket board peaked after its disastrous defeat by 302 runs against India in the ongoing World Cup in Mumbai. The Sri Lankan parliament unanimously asked Sri Lanka Cricket’s elected board members to resign on Thursday, accusing them of unprecedented corruption. The allegations of corruption against the board were made by the sports minister, and the parliament agreed with him. However, the board didn’t resign.
After that on Monday, Sri Lanka’s sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe sacked the SLC board and installed an interim committee headed by Arjuna Ranatunga on 6th November. But a court of appeal stayed the minister’s order for 14 days on 7th November, reinstating the current board, after SLC president Shammi Silva filed an appeal against the minister’s sacking order.
However, this was seen as excessive government interference into the sporting body by the ICC, and it suspended the SLC on last Friday. However, reportedly SLC itself requested the ICC to suspend it, to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to not interfere in its matters.
In the statement announcing legal action against sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe, SLC said that “continuous dissemination of false and harmful statements by the Minister of Sports has caused substantial harm to the image of Sri Lanka Cricket, both domestically and internationally.”
