A Government Agent (GA) or a District Secretary is a Sri Lankan civil servant of the

Sri Lanka Administrative Service The Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පරිපාලන සේවය; śrī laṁkā paripālana sēvaya) is the key administrative service of the Government of Sri Lanka, with civil servants workin ...

appointed by the central government to govern a certain

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

of the country. The GA is the administrative head of public services in the District. As Sri Lanka has 25 districts, there are 25 governments agents at any given time.

History

The origins of the role of Government Agent, can be traced back to the appointment of Madrassi Revenue Collectors, who's office became known as a

Kachcheri A kachcheri or district secretariat is the principal government department that administrates a district in Sri Lanka. Each of the 25 districts has a kachcheri. The main tasks of the District Secretariat involve coordinating communications and a ...

. Following the annexation of the Kingdom of Kandy, the British Governor appointed Resident Agents and Assistant Agents to different parts of the island to overlook revenue collection and maintain government control. The administrative reforms carried out following the Colebrooke–Cameron Commission of Inquiry, the administration of the coastal provinces and the provinces of the former Kingdom of Kandy were merged into a central system which divided the island into five provinces on 1 October 1833. Each province would be headed by a Government Agent (GA) appointed by the Governor and with Assistant Government Agents (AGA) in charge of outlying districts answerable to the GA of the province. With these reforms the Ceylon Civil Service was established and GAs and AGAs were exclusively appointed from the Ceylon Civil Service. Each GA had has his office the local

, which was the Revenue Collector's Office dating back from the Dutch period. GA and AGA appointments were made from the Ceylon Civil Service (CCS) which was formed in 1833. CCS was initially made up of British, Ceylonese were first admitted to the CCS in 1870. However it was only in the 1920s did the first Ceylonese GA appointed. The role of the GA during the colonial administration, was primary collection of revenue, administration of law and order, allocation of crown land, and supervision of irrigation. Till 1956, there were nine Provincial Kachcheries, headed by a GA who administered their own district and exercised nominal authority over thirteen District Kachcheries, headed by AGAs. In 1956, the heads of all twenty-two districts were now designated GAs, who were all from the CCS and came under the preview of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The GA functioned as the reprehensive of the government in the district. The original responsibility to maintain law and order, soon transferred to the police and Judiciary; GA retained residual control over the police, and excided during times of crisis.

References

Government occupations Sri Lankan government officials {{SriLanka-poli-stub

History

See also

References