Sports minister's power to appoint interim committees will be taken off: SL president
Colombo, Dec 9: Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe said he is mulling a regulation with which sports minister's power to appoint interim committees would be taken off.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) was suspended by the ICC for government interference last month and the global body has also shifted the U-19 World Cup to South Africa.
It was after Sri Lanka's sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe decided to sack the governing body and appoint an interim committee headed by World Cup-winning former captain Arjuna Ranatunga.
The SLC management had been fired by the sports minister based on irregularities in a government audit report concerning the board's expenditure on participation at the T20 World Cup in Australia last year.
Wickremesinghe sacked Ranasinghe for his action on November 27.
Addressing the 150th anniversary of the Colombo Colts Cricket Club, a leading domestic club, Wickremesinghe said he planned to rid the cricket administration completely of politics.
The existing 1973 sports law permits the minister to sack governing bodies while the minister must personally endorse all Sri Lankan national representation team selections.
"With the current commercialization of cricket it is important to keep the game away from politics," he said.
He said the current sports minister Harin Fernando was communicating with the ICC in order to lift the ban imposed by the world body.
The sports minister is to report to the court next week his position on the interim committee appointed by his predecessor.
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Telangana govt rejects Adani's Rs 100 cr donation for skills university
Hyderabad (PTI): Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday announced that the state government will not accept the Rs 100 crore CSR donation committed by industrialist Gautam Adani for the Young India Skills University being set up in the state.
The CM's announcement came days after the indictment of the Adani Group chairman in a US court.
In a letter to Priti Adani, Chairperson of the Adani Foundation, the state government's Special Chief Secretary (Industries) Jayesh Ranjan said he has been "instructed by the chief minister not to seek the transfer of funds in view of the present circumstances and arising controversies".
While thanking Priti Adani for committing Rs 100 crore to the skills university, the official said the state government has so far not asked any of the donors for physical transfer of funds since the university had not received the IT exemption under Section 80 G. However, the IT exemption order has now been received recently.
Addressing a press conference here, Revanth Reddy said the decision was taken as the Congress government does not want to find itself in any unwarranted controversy amid the allegations against the Adani Group.
He said so far the Telangana government has not accepted a single rupee into its account from any organisation, including Adani Group, for the skills university being established to promote employment avenues for youth.
"I and my Cabinet colleagues do not want to be involved in unnecessary discussions and situations that would dent Telangana's image or my own," Reddy said.
Gautam Adani met the chief minister here on Octrober 18 and symbolically handed over a cheque for Rs 100 crore towards donation to the skills university.
Asked about the comments of BRS that the government should cancel the Adani Group's investment proposals in the state, Reddy said the government will have to take legal opinion for cancellation of any agreements as the other party can go to courts against unilateral termination of pacts.
On BRS working president K T Rama Rao's comments that the previous BRS regime did not allow Adani Group into the state, Reddy displayed photographs of former CM K Chandrasekhar Rao and Rama Rao with Gautam Adani to the mediapersons.
He also read out a list of Adani Group's investment proposals reportedly approved by the BRS government.
"Is he (Rama Rao) ready for a probe on these," Reddy asked.
When pointed out that the state government discussed investment proposals with the Adani Group though Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been raising questions on Adani for several years now, he said Congress is not against any investment proposal or corporate house but crony capitalism and violation of rules.
It is his responsibility to follow his leader when the latter is raising his voice on an issue, Reddy said.
