CONSEQUENT to an application from the Secretary of the Essequibo Board for a Writ of Rule Nisi of Certiorari, Chief Justice Ian Chang yesterday granted an order directing the Registrar of Friendly Societies to quash the registration of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) as a Friendly Society. Otto Christiani is Secretary of the Essequibo Board, which is a constituent member of the Guyana Cricket Board, a purportedly registered society under the provisions of the Friendly Societies Act Chapter 36:04 of the Laws of Guyana.
He said that the Essequibo Cricket Board, which is a constituent member of the GCB, is a purportedly registered society under the provisions of the Friendly Societies Act Chapter 36:00 of Guyana.
According to him, the Essequibo Cricket Board has been in existence since around 1940, its membership consisting of eight cricket committees in the County of Essequibo.
These committees comprise representatives of a number of cricket clubs in the said County of Essequibo.  The Essequibo Cricket Board is responsible for the administration of cricket in the County and is also required to hold club competitions in the County of Essequibo. These competitions are used to update the register of clubs in Essequibo.
Christiani said that the Essequibo Cricket Board at its first statutory meeting, on April 19, 2011, discussed for the first time the purported registration of the   Guyana Cricket Board as a Society under the Friendly Societies Act.
* That the said Board learnt of the purported registration of the Guyana Cricket Board following published statements by the Honourable Manzoor Nadir reported in the Kaieteur News  and Chronicle Newspapers of the April 5, 2011:
* That the said Board noted that the Honourable Minister Manzoor Nadir  stated that the Guyana Cricket Board was a Society  under the Friendly Societies Act and could not proceed to hold any Annual General meeting unless permission was granted by the Registrar of the Friendly Societies and or himself.
* That the persons named on the list of  persons applying for the  registration of the GCB were all members  of the executive of the GCB and were not members  of the executive of the Essequibo or  Demerara Cricket Board.
The Secretary of the Essequibo Board said that he was advised by Attorney-At-Law, Mr. Roysdale Forde that the registration of the said GCB as a Friendly Society without the approval of the Essequibo Cricket Board is null, void and of no legal effect.
Meanwhile, the order of the Chief Justice read: “ORDER of Rule Nisi of Certiorari directed to the Registrar of Friendly Societies quashing the registration  of the  Guyana Cricket Board on the 25th of July, 2009, as a Friendly Society under  the Friendly Societies Act, Chapter 36:04 is hereby made absolute..Order of Rule Nisi of Prohibition is hereby discharged. No order as to costs.”