''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
A law enforcement officer (LEO), or peace officer in North American English, is a public-sector employee whose duties primarily involve the enforcement of laws. The phrase can include campaign disclosure specialists, local police officers, prose ...
. 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
Felix R. Dias Bandaranaike ( Sinhala:ෆීලික්ස් ඩයස් බණඩාරනායක) (5 November 1930 – 26 June 1985) was a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, who served as Cabinet Minister of Finance, Parliamentary Secret ...
in the
Sirimavo Bandaranaike 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 v ...
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
Maithripala Yapa Sirisena ( si, පල්ලෙවත්ත ගමරාළලාගේ මෛත්රීපාල යාපා සිරිසේන; ta, பல்லேவத்த கமராளலாகே மைத்திரி ...
See also
*
Native headmen of Ceylon
Native headmen system was an integral part of the administration of the island of Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka) under the successive European colonial powers, namely the Portuguese Empire, the Dutch East India Company and the British Empire. N ...
*
Vidane
*
Government of Sri Lanka
References
Find a grama niladari detailsGrama niladhari divisionsGrama Niladhari software system in Sinhala language
Sri Lankan government officials
{{SriLanka-stub