A bill published in a Gazette supplement proposes that the next Sri Lanka Cricket chairperson be selected from among seven Independent Directors, with the board choosing the chairperson by majority vote.
The proposed Sri Lanka Cricket Act does not make the chairperson’s post a separate elected position. A candidate must first qualify as an Independent Director, be nominated by the Nomination Committee and appointed to the board before being eligible for the top post.
The document is a bill, not an enacted law.
Who could qualify as an Independent Director?
The bill sets out six categories for the seven Independent Director positions:
A chartered accountant who has been a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka for at least 15 years.
An attorney-at-law with at least 15 years of active legal practice in Sri Lanka.
A former cricketer of good standing who played at least 15 international matches before the three-year period immediately preceding appointment.
An IT professional with a postgraduate qualification in computer science or information systems and extensive corporate experience.
A marketing or global brand-management professional with a recognised qualification and a proven track record.
Two people with an unblemished reputation and expertise in fields including accounting, finance, management, law, IT, marketing, sport or governance. Senior executives such as chief executive officers and general managers are among those who may qualify.
At least two of the seven Independent Directors must be women. The bill provides for Independent Directors to serve four-year terms and to be eligible for one further term, subject to the process set out in the legislation.
How would candidates be selected?
A seven-member Nomination Committee would invite applications, assess candidates and nominate people it considers fit and proper. Its members would represent the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of Sports, the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors, the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing and the National Sports Council.
Committee members must have good moral standing, recognised qualifications and substantial experience in the relevant field. They cannot be office bearers of SLC members, SLC directors or people subject to the bill’s disqualifications. The committee would appoint its own chairperson from among its members.
Who would be disqualified?
The bill would bar a person from serving as either an Independent Director or an Elected Director if they are a Member of Parliament, a Provincial Council member or a local authority member; are an SLC employee, a Nomination Committee member or an office bearer of an SLC member; or are not a Sri Lankan citizen.
It would also disqualify people declared insolvent or of unsound mind by a court, and people convicted within the preceding 10 years of specified offences involving moral turpitude, fraud, dishonesty, corruption or violence, where the sentence was at least six months’ imprisonment. The rule applies whether or not the sentence was suspended. A person previously removed from an SLC-related office for disciplinary reasons or misconduct would also be disqualified.
The bill bars people who worked as professional journalists in print or electronic media during the three years before nomination. It also lists owners, beneficial owners, co-owners and major shareholders of media organisations.
Parents or siblings of players in a National Pool or National Team would be ineligible. So would anyone who acted as a match official or coach in a cricket tournament conducted or authorised by SLC during the previous three years, or who is an agent or manager of a cricket player.
Other disqualifications cover people who, during the preceding year, sold or supplied sports goods or cricket equipment to Sri Lanka, conducted sports training schools or provided cricket-related financial services.
A candidate would also be disqualified if they or an immediate family member has an interest in a betting, gaming or wagering organisation, or is employed in its day-to-day operations. The bill defines immediate family for this purpose as a spouse, parent, sibling, son, daughter, son-in-law or daughter-in-law.
The restrictions further cover people penalised, banned, suspended or disqualified by SLC’s disciplinary committee, the Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency, the World Anti-Doping Agency, the ICC, the ACC or a related cricket association for offences involving prohibited substances, corruption, betting, match-fixing, spot-fixing or misuse of insider information. The bill also lists a person who represented the country in an approved cricket-related international sports event and had not returned to Sri Lanka.
Past cricket administration and the eight-year limit
A person who previously served on the predecessor body’s Executive Committee, as an Elected Director or as an office bearer of an SLC member cannot be appointed as an Independent Director. Because the chairperson must come from the Independent Directors, those past roles would prevent that person from becoming chairperson.
The bill separately limits service as an Elected Director to eight aggregate years over a person’s lifetime. It counts time served as an Independent Director, Elected Director, office bearer or member of the predecessor body’s Executive Committee toward that total. A person who reaches the eight-year limit is permanently ineligible for election as an Elected Director. (Newswire)
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