A settlement was reached Tuesday (3) before the Court of Appeal, related to the petition filed by three national cricket captains, against a decision made by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD).
This was over the imposition of withholding tax on them, by treating them as employees of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).
The writ petition was filed by Charith Asalanka, Dhanajaya De Silva, and Chamari Athapaththu, as respective captains of the One Day International and Twenty20 cricket teams, the Test Cricket Team and the Women’s team.
The trio has challenged what they term as an arbitrary and unreasonable classification of national cricketers, as employees of SLC by the IRD.
The petition was taken up before a Court of Appeal Bench consisting Justices Acting President Mohamed Laffar Tahir and Priyantha Fernando.
During the hearing, the IRD, the respondent party, submitted settlement proposals, which were agreed upon by the petitioners.
Accordingly, SLC agreed to make the necessary payments to cricketers, and it was also agreed that the relevant withholding tax amounts would be remitted to the IRD, starting from this month.
In the event that the petitioners receive a favorable verdict from the Court, it was also agreed that the taxes withheld in this manner would be refunded.
Additionally, a settlement was reached between the parties on several other related matters as well.
Attorney Nishan Premathiratne, who appeared on behalf of the petitioners, expressed agreement with the proposed settlement.
President’s Counsel Kuvera de Zoysa, appearing for SLC, also agreed to the settlement proposed by the IRD.
The Bench then advised that if there are any objections to the petition, they be filed by 29 August, and any counter-objections be filed by 29 September. Accordingly, the next hearing of the petition was fixed for 6 November.
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