The Court of Appeal President, Justice Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne has recused himself from the consideration of the motion filed by the Minister of Sports seeking the revocation of the stay order issued against the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Interim Committee.

Accordingly, Justice Karunratne excused himself from the relevant legal proceeding on account of various criticisms being levelled at him since of late, by not only the Minister but also other Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament.

He made this statement when the motion was called before the Appellate Court bench comprising Justice Karunaratne himself and Judge Vikum Kaluarachchi.

In addition, it was decided that the motion be heard before a new bench of the Appeals Court.

Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe, on Monday (13 Nov.), filed a motion requesting the lifting of the stay order issued by the Court of Appeal preventing the operation of the seven-member Interim Committee appointed by him for the SLC and the relevant gazette notification published in this regard.

The motion including the objections related to the relevant stay order, has been filed before the Appeals Court through Attorney-at-Law G.G. Arulpragasam.

On November 07, the Court of Appeal issued 14-day stay orders preventing the operation of the seven-member Interim Committee appointed for the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the relevant gazette notification issued by Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe in this regard, after considering a writ petition filed by the Chairman of SLC Shammi Silva.

Accordingly, the court had issued three stay orders in total pertaining to the matter: the first to prevent the gazette issued by the Sports Minister appointing the interim committee for the SLC, the second to prevent the committee members chaired by Arjuna Ranatunga from acting in their respective positions and the third to prevent the respondents including the Sports Minister from interfering the activities of the petitioner and the other officials of cricket board.

Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe appointed a seven-member Interim Committee for Sri Lanka Cricket, chaired by World Cup-winning former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga on November 06, 2023, under the authority granted to him by the Sports Law No 25 of 1973, while the previous board was also suspended.