The future looks bleak for the former President of Sri Lanka Rugby, Rizly Illyas, following the refusal by the Court of Appeal to issue an interim order suspending the Gazette Notification which had suspended the registration of Sri Lanka Rugby and appointed a Stabilization Committee to manage the affairs of Sri Lanka Rugby.
On Friday (14) a two-judge-bench of the Court of Appeal comprising the President of the Court of Appeal Justice Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne and Justice M.A.R. Marikkar made an order issuing notice to the Respondents including the Minister of Sports Roshan Ranaasinghe and the members of the newly appointed stabilization Committee in the matter bearing No. CA (Writ) 204/2023.
Whilst the Court of Appeal in its order granted an interim order preventing the Sports Minister, the Secretary of the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs and the Director General of the Department of Sports Development from interfering in the affairs of Sri Lanka Rugby until the final determination of the matter.
The Court of Appeal refused the main interim order prayed for by Illyas and the former officer bearers of Sri Lanka Rugby, which was the suspension of the Gazette Notification bearing No. 2327/07 dated 11th April 2023 whereby the Minister of Sports had suspended the registration of Sri Lanka Rugby and appointed a Stabilization Committee to manage the affairs of Sri Lanka Rugby for the continued failure of Sri Lanka Rugby.
This order by the Court of Appeal represents a significant blow to Illyas and the other former office bearers of Sri Lanka Rugby who had filed this writ application for the primary purpose of taking back control of Sri Lanka Rugby from the stabilization committee.
To make matters worse for Illyas, the legal counsel for the Minister of Sports submitted to court on Friday that the appeal filed by Illyas against his expulsion from Asia Rugby was denied.
The root cause for this ongoing legal dispute was the fact that Illyas was suspended and subsequently expelled from Asia Rugby for violating several articles of the Asia Rugby Code of Conduct by threatening and making public defamatory statements against the current President of Asia Rugby Qais Al-Dhalai.
In terms of Regulation 5(4)(P) of the National Associations of Sports Regulations, No. 01 of 2016 and Article 20(P) of the Sri Lanka Rugby Constitution any person suspended by a regional or international sports body shall not hold office in Sri Lanka Rugby.
Despite repeated warnings by the Sports Minister to adhere to the law, the Illyas-led Sri Lanka Rugby adamantly refused to comply with their legal obligations.
Therefore, on 11th April 2023, the Minister of Sports suspended the registration of Sri Lanka Rugby for the continued violation of its legal obligations under the Sports regulations and its Constitution and appointed the Stabilization Committee headed by Chula Dharmasena.
In the Court of Appeal, Illyas and the other former officer bearers of Sri Lanka Rugby were represented by Dr. Faisz Musthapha PC, Keerthi Tillekaratne Attorney at Law and Panduka.