''Grama Niladhari'' (''village officers'') ( si, ග්රාම නිලධාරී) is a Sri Lankan public official appointed by the central government to carry out administrative duties in a ''grama niladhari'' division, which is a sub-unit of a
divisional secretariat. They come under the Grama Niladhari Division under the Home Affairs Division of the
Ministry of Home Affairs
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministry ...
. There are 14,022 grama niladhari divisions under 331 divisional secretary’s division in the island.
The duties of a ''grama niladhari'' include the reporting of issuing of permits, gathering statistics, maintaining the voter registry and keeping the peace by settlement of personal disputes. They are responsible for keeping track of criminal activity in their area and issuing a certificate of residence and character on behalf of residents when requested by them. They may arrest individuals if sworn in as a
Peace Officer. Establish and co-ordinate administrative policies and procedures for required community members and officials of the divisional secretariats.
The post of Grama Sevaka (village servant) was created in May 1963 as part of the public administration reforms carried out by Minister
Felix Dias Bandaranaike in the
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike ( si, සිරිමා රත්වත්තේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක; ta, சிறிமா ரத்வத்தே டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கே; 17 April 191 ...
government, which replaced the post of
village head
A village head, village headman or village chief is the community leader of a village or a small town.
Usage
Brunei
In Brunei, village head is called or in the Malay language. It is an administrative post which leads the community of a ...
man (''
Vidane'') which dated back to the British the colonial era. All serving village headman were re-designated as Grama Sevakas under the ''Village Headmen (Change of Designation) Act, No. 6 of 1964''.
The designation modeled on that of public servant was later changed to grama niladhari which translated to village leader.
Notable Grama Niladharis
*
Maithripala Sirisena
See also
*
Native headmen of Ceylon
*
Vidane
*
Government of Sri Lanka
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the isl ...
References
Find a grama niladari detailsGrama niladhari divisionsGrama Niladhari software system in Sinhala language
Sri Lankan government officials
{{SriLanka-stub