{"id":146359,"date":"2024-12-16T14:08:45","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T14:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=146359"},"modified":"2024-12-17T06:35:36","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T06:35:36","slug":"provincial-councils-district-councils-district-secretariate-municipal-urban-councils-by-oscar-fernando-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/provincial-councils-district-councils-district-secretariate-municipal-urban-councils-by-oscar-fernando-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Provincial Councils-District Councils-District Secretariate-Municipal\/Urban Councils – By Oscar Fernando"},"content":{"rendered":"

Provincial Councils-District Councils-District Secretariate-Municipal\/Urban Councils – By Oscar Fernando<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Provincial<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

And all this to run this dot of a country whilst playing-political musical chairs and dragging the country down to the labyrinth of bankruptcy.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

It is time, we opened our eyes to see the folly we were in, and put a stop to the Merry Go Rounds and merry-merry go rounds of musical chairs-what with introducing Provincial Councils-so devised to settle a bludgeoning power devolution problem but has ended in disaster with the failed rounds of talks that have festered the existing wound even further-and contributing in no small way to the bankruptcy of the economy!<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Can we even now, take the bold step of halting this folly of a costly Provincial Council Election imminently round the corner and consider scrapping all political councils and run this dot of a country with the District Secretary DS under the Minister of Local government?<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

The District Secretariate together with the District Secretary may function under the Minister of Local Government-and the DS be a Permanent Officer like in the case of the Government Agent GA of old.<\/b><\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps readers may get a bird\u2019s eye view of the hotch-potch we are in by reading the few notes made by this writer-<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

SL has nine Provincial Councils established by the 13th<\/sup>\u00a0amendment to the Constitution and these are referred to as-the intermediate level of government between the national and local levels.<\/u><\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Each PC is made up of-Governor-Chief Minister-Ministers and a selected number of members and electorates based on the PCs population and land area-governor is appointed by Parliament and the Chief Minister is elected by the people.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

PCs are responsible for exercising powers and functions at the provincial level\u00a0with easy edges for conflicts with District Secretaries!<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

An example is the conflict between Eastern Province Governor and Chief Minister over a flimsy reason of sharing a helicopter ride to Colombo that led to a tussle between the armed forces and the Chief Minister thus brewing ethnic disturbance.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

District Councils<\/u><\/b><\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

There are 25 Districts in SL-each district managed by a District Secretariate?? who is appointed by the Central Government and it is the second-level Administrative Division.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

There are 256 Divisional Secretariats, each administered by a Divisional Secretary.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

The District Secretariat’s responsibilities include:<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n