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New SLC Constitution: A honest attempt or Harin Fernando’s another trick to salvage pride?

Written by N Krishnamurthy

Amid pressure from all the corners to fulfill his promises to revamp Sri Lanka Cricket, Sports Minister Harin Fernando on Monday secretly planned to submit new cricket constitution to Parliament, Cricket Age reliably learns.

The new constitution is the brainchild of former Lankan cricketers Sidath Wettimuny, Roshan Mahanama, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.

The new constitution is set to revamp the game, especially given Sri Lanka’s performance during the recently concluded Cricket World Cup.

Cricket Age understand that the document will be implemented directly and will become law immediately since Parliament is involved.

According to insiders at Sports Ministry, Harin secretly planned to table it into parliament and today the Sports Ministry is working on draft’s translation. As the parliament session begins tomorrow, most probably it will officially be tabled tomorrow.

The procedure, however, seems another hurried attempt of Harin, that reflects his desperation to salvage his own pride more than to bring Sri Lanka Cricket back on track. Insiders at parliament informed Cricket Age that Harin is planning to table new constitution without following proper preliminary procedure.

“It seems that in order to show the cricket loving public that he is taking necessary action, he has hurriedly planned to submit it to Parliament, which is not a proper procedure. Once, it will be tabled in parliament, it will be again referred to the Attorney General Department and Legal Draftsman department. In this scenario, it will take another six to eight months” an insider from parliament told Cricket Age.

In this scenario, for next six or eight months, Harin Will promote his ‘new SLC constitution‘ initiative. Right now, after world cup debacle, Harin’s popularity as Sports Minister has come down significantly. There is no progress in forensic audit report. However, with this new and timely masterstroke, for next six to eight months, no one will question Harin! And, it seems a perfect and timely masterstroke to give a new ray of hope to cricket loving public after World Cup debacle!

Now, whether the hope is genuine or another cheap trick, only time will tell!

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N Krishnamurthy