Justice Navindra Singh yesterday ordered that the elections for the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) be held no later than August 11, 2019 with the number of voting delegates to be in accordance with Article 15, Schedule II of the Guyana Cricket Administration Act.
Several Demerara-based cricket groups including the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA), the East Coast Cricket Board (ECCB), and the Upper Demerara Cricket Association (UDCA), the applicants, had petitioned the Court to order that the elections be held. Stabroek Sport had previously reported that attorney Arudranauth Gossai, who is representing the associations, had contended that the DCB has not held an election in over eight years and it is through the petition that they seek to hold the elections.
The application to the court for the holding of the DCB elections was made by Roger Harper in his capacity as President of the GCA, Davteerth Anandjit in his capacity as Secretary of the ECCB and Bradley Fredericks as President of the UDCA.
The respondents were the ten executives of the DCB including Anand Kalladeen, the DCB’s Treasurer and Anand Sanasie, the DCB’s Vice President.
According to court ruling which was seen by Stabroek News, it is undisputed that the DCB held its last/most recent elections on January 23, 2013. It was pointed out that the Guyana Cricket Administration Act provides that the elections of the Executive Committee shall be a biennial exercise, and consequently, the Court ruled that the tenure of the last Executive Committee ended on January 24, 2015 and “any act done or performed after is a nullity and of no legal effect.”
Justice Singh granted several orders sought by the applicants and further ordered that an election to elect members of the DCB Executive Committee be held no later than August 11, 2019 with the number of voting delegates to be in accordance with Article 15, Schedule II of the Act. Justice Singh further awarded costs to the applicants against Kalladeen and Sanasie in the sum of $200,000.
Back in 2017, Justice Singh had ordered the Berbice Cricket Board to hold new elections under the supervision of the Court which saw the previously elected body being deemed null and void.
