COLOMBO: The Court of Appeal has assigned March 8 and 24 to hear arguments regarding the writ of mandamus sought by former Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) President, Jaswar Umar Lebbe directing the Sports Minister, Ministry Secretary and sports authorities to conduct fresh office bearer elections for the FFSL on the grounds that the wrongful actions of the Sports Minister which resulted in the petitioner together with the duly elected office bearers of FFSL being suspended from office almost overnight.
The Court of Appeal two-judge-bench comprised of Justice (President) Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne and Justice M.A.R. Marikkar heard arguments by the Deputy Solicitor General appearing on behalf of the Attorney General and Sports Minister seeking further time to file objections. Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Counsel Eraj de Silva Appearing made submissions purporting that the present office bearers have no legitimacy stressing that the Fédération internationale de football association (FIFA) had suspended FFSL for this very reason.
Senior Counsel Eraj de Silva with Counsel Daminda Wijayaratne, Zul Luthufi instructed by Dimuthu Kuruppuarachchi appeared for the petitioner. Deputy Solicitor General Manohara Jayasinghe appeared for the Attorney General and President’s Counsel Sanjeeva Jayawardena appeared for the newly elected office bearers of FFSL.