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, Tamil:ஸ்ரீ இலங்கை நிருவாக சேவை; Sri lanka niruvá ...

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, municip ...

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, whose 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 ac ...

. Following the annexation of the

Kingdom of Kandy The Kingdom of Kandy was a monarchy on the Sri Lanka, island of Sri Lanka, located in the central and eastern portion of the island. It was founded in the late 15th century and endured until the early 19th century. Initially a client kingdom ...

, 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 British Governor of Ceylon 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 The Ceylon Civil Service, popularly known by its acronym CCS, was the premier civil service of the Government of Ceylon under British colonial rule and in the immediate post-independence period. Established in 1833, it functioned as part of th ...

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

(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. Until 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.

Notable agents

* L. B. Abeyaratne *

Sarath Amunugama (politician) Sarath Leelananda Bandara Amunugama ( Sinhala:සරත් ලීලානන්ද බණඩාර අමුනුගම), MP, SLAS (born July 10, 1939) is a Sri Lankan politician and civil servant. He was the Cabinet Minister of Public Admin ...

Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe, CCS (18 March 1913 – 4 December 1980) was a Sri Lankan diplomat and civil servant. He was High Commissioner to India and concurrently Ambassador to both Nepal and Afghanistan (1963–1967) and Permanent Secretar ...

Robert Atherton (civil servant) Robert Atherton Ceylon Civil Service, CCS, Justice of the peace#Sri Lanka, JP (1801 – 1855) was a 19th-century British colonial official in British Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka) for more than 25 years. After a distinguished career in the ...

* A. M. A. Azeez *

N. Q. Dias Neil Quintus Dias, commonly known as N.Q. Dias, was a Sri Lankan civil servant. A career officer of the Ceylon Civil Service, he was the Permanent Secretary of Defence and Foreign Affairs from 1960 to 1965, serving as the ''de facto'' Chief Adv ...

Hardinge Hay Cameron Hardinge Hay Cameron CCS, JP, FRCI (5 August 1846 – 16 September 1911) was the nineteenth Treasurer of Ceylon (1901–1904), and a member of both the Legislative Council and Governor's Executive Council, under the Ridgeway, and Blake admi ...

* V. Coomaraswamy *

Victor Gunasekara Major Victor Joseph Harold Gunasekera, CCS (1921 — 1993) was a former Ceylonese civil servant. The former Controller of Imports Exports, Government Agent of Kegalle and Secretary to the Board of Control for Cricket. A reservist, he was a Maj ...

* L. L. Hunter * M. Rajendra * V. M. Panchalingam * L. S. B. Perera *

Francis Templer Francis James Templer (6 June 1791 - 22 October 1854) was a British civil servant, who served as the ninth Treasurer of Ceylon from 1 November 1843 to October 1854. He was a member of the 3rd executive council of British Ceylon, the Campbell e ...

George Vane George Vane CMG, CCS, was the twelfth Treasurer of Ceylon (1865-1882), and a member of both the Legislative Council and Governor's Executive Council, under the Robinson, Gregory and Longden administrations. Career Vane was initially appoin ...

Nissanka Wijeyeratne Deshamanya Nissanka Parakrama Wijeyeratne () (14 June 1924 – 7 January 2007), known as ''Nissanka Wijeyeratne'', was a Sri Lankan politician, civil service, civil servant, diplomat and English language poet. He was also the 17th Diyawadana ...

Leonard Woolf Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British List of political theorists, political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party and the Fabian Socie ...

John Penry Lewis John Penry Lewis CMG (17 September 1854 – 29 September 1923) was a British colonial administrator, antiquarian and archaeologist. Early life and education Lewis was born on 17 September 1854, the second son of Rev John Lewis of Blackheath, ...

References

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

History

Notable agents

See also

References