Appeals Court dismisses contempt charges against Sports Director General over rugby elections
May 20, 2025 11:23 am
The Court of Appeal today (20) dismissed a contempt of court case filed against the Director General of Sports over his alleged failure to conduct elections for Sri Lanka Rugby, as per an agreement previously reached before the Colombo District Court.
Delivering its order, the Appeals Court—comprising Acting President of the Court of Appeal Justice Mohamed Lafar Tahir and Justice Priyantha Fernando—also instructed the withdrawal of the contempt charges against the Director General.
The decision was announced following submissions made by Additional Solicitor General Sumathi Dharmawardena, who appeared on behalf of the Attorney General.
Dharmawardena argued that the petitioner had secured the contempt notice based on misleading and legally flawed representations.
During a previous hearing, Dharmawardena informed court that the Director General of Sports had merely given an undertaking to appoint the necessary committee to conduct elections for Sri Lanka Rugby, and that this commitment had been duly fulfilled.
Citing these facts, the Additional Solicitor General requested that the contempt charge be dropped, maintaining that there was no deliberate non-compliance or defiance of court orders.
After reviewing the submissions, the Court of Appeal concluded that there were no grounds to proceed with the contempt of court case and ordered its dismissal. Court also directed that proceedings related to the case be concluded.
The original petition had been filed by a group of sports associations, with President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran representing the petitioners.
