PNGRFL case faces another hearing

By SAMUEL RAITANO
THE PNGRFL interim committee members’ terms lapsed on Nov 30, according to a court order of April 8, and their dispute before the National Court has dragged on with the matter expected to be heard again today.
The PNGRFL annual general meeting was also ordered by the same court on April 8 to be held on or before Nov 30 but was stopped due to a stay order sought by the plaintiff parties last month when the defendant moved to have its AGM on Nov 26 in Lae.
Last week plaintiff Gary Juffa and defendants John Numapo and Ivan Ravu were expected to come up with certain consent orders.
However, it did not eventuate as expected though the court had adjourned the hearings a number of times to allow both parties to come up with solutions for a “way forward.”
It is understood that both Juffa and Numapo’s terms as interim committee member and interim chairman lapsed at the end of last month.
Another likely complication is that the 19 Highlands leagues that joined as plaintiffs may not seem to have a common interest with Juffa’s purpose given that his term lapsed, and the AGM ordered by the court on April 8 had lapsed as well.
The case had initially been filed to have the court nullify the AGM set by Numapo for Nov 26, which the court did, on the grounds that Numapo had not proved to have the interest of all PNGRFL stakeholders taken into consideration.
Thus the term of the interim committee members and the due date of the AGM lapsed with the conclusion of last month, leaving the court to point the way forward.
Judge Ambeng Kandakasi is expected to hear the matter concerning the country’s most loved sport once again today.