ACTING Chief Justice Ian Chang yesterday upheld a motion to have the injunction, filed by Ms Angela Haniff in her capacity as Secretary of the Berbice Cricket Board against the Ramsay Ali-led executives of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), struck out on the grounds that it was bad in law and misconceived. Attorney-at-Law for the defendants Roysdale Forde told Chronicle Sport he moved for the injunction to be struck out, saying it was unlawful to which the Acting Chief Justice granted same, paving the way for Ali and his elected executives to resume the administration of cricket in Guyana, having been elected to do so unopposed on Sunday July 10.
According to Forde, Haniff’s action held no merit, since the court has no jurisdiction over the matter, leaving the rules of the organisation to be applied, as the GCB is an unincorporated body, hence he had no other alternative than to move for the matter to be struck out and dismissed.
Haniff had on July 21 sought an injunction against Ali and his executives, stating that the purported Annual General Meeting of the GCB was unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal, ultra vires, null, void and of no effect.
She also sought for a declaration that the purported election of office-bearers at the GCB’s AGM at which Ali and his executives were elected was unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal, ultra vires, null, void and of no effect and asked that they be removed from office while at the same time, restraining them from acting in the offices they were elected to at the July 10 elections.
During the summarising of the no-case submission by Forde, Acting Chief Justice Chang ordered that the past executive, led by Chetram Singh, oversee the day-to-day affairs of the GCB, until such further notice is given.
Following yesterday’s ruling by the Acting Chief Justice, Ali has summoned a meeting which will be held today in the GCB’s Boardroom, to discuss among other things, Guyana’s hosting of the Pakistan female team’s tour of the West Indies and the recently concluded West Indies Cricket Board Regional Under-19 tournament, which was hosted by the GCB under Singh’s watch, amongst other things.
“The work of the GCB has to continue and I hope that this ruling puts an end to the entire legal charade that has been taking place in recent times, with regard to the administration of cricket in Guyana” said Ali.
The former GCB Marketing Officer, who was elected unopposed to the stewardship of the GCB, also wishes to put into action his plans for the hosting of the WICB Regional limited overs tournament which bowls off in Guyana in October.
“Before you know it, it will be time for us to host the Regional limited overs tournament and my aim is to ensure that Guyana not only hosts a wonderful tournament, but also put on the field, one of the best teams ever to compete against the Region’s best.
“With that in mind, we have to look at organising an Inter-club limited overs tournament along with the Inter-county tournament from which the selectors can select the team to represent Guyana at the WICB tournament.
“We have not been able to do anything for one month, due to the injunction that was filed against us, but now that that is out of the way, we have to not only play catch up with our plans, but also do so quickly as time waits for no one,” stated Ali.
The GCB head also has his eyes on school cricket, which he sees as a feeding programme to the clubs who in turn feed the national team and very shortly he would be commencing talks with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Sport, with a view to running off an Inter-school tournament.