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22-632: With the expansion of the Legislative Council of Ceylon , the need for a new building to house the council and the civil administration of Ceylon was suggested by Sir Henry McCallum . A proposal made by a committee to construct the new building for the Secretariat, Council Chamber and Government offices on reclaimed land at the northern end of Galle Face ' was accepted by the Ceylon Government in 1920. The chief architect of

44-543: A District Secretary is a Sri Lankan civil servant of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service appointed by the central government to govern a certain district 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. The origins of the role of Government Agent, can be traced back to

66-619: A Neo-baroque façade, which faced the Indian Ocean to the west. The Secretariat, a larger however the more simple building compared to the Council Chamber situated to the east of it. The Council Chamber was to house Legislative Council, however it was only for a year as the Legislative Council was replaced by the more powerful State Council of Ceylon in 1931. The Secretariat housed the civil administration of

88-466: Is undergoing a process of extension. Construction project is handled (Consulted) by Consultancy Division of state Engineering Corporation of Sri Lanka. Legislative Council of Ceylon [REDACTED] The Legislative Council of Ceylon was the legislative body of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka ) established in 1833, along with the Executive Council of Ceylon , on the recommendations of

110-678: 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 Kachcheri , 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

132-658: The Colebrooke-Cameron Commission . It was the first form of representative government in the island. The 1931 Donoughmore Constitution replaced the Legislative Council with the State Council of Ceylon . Members of the Legislative Council, used the post-nominal letters , MLC . In 1833 the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission created the Legislative Council of Ceylon, the first step in representative government in British Ceylon . Initially

154-595: The McCallum Reforms was the introduction of elected members. However, fewer than 3,000 people could vote, as the right to vote was based on education and assets held. One of the four elected non-official members was Ponnambalam Ramanathan . The financial committee was also established to control the revenue. It included the Colonial Secretary, Colonial Treasurer, Revenue Controller and all the non-official elected members. These changes did not satisfy

176-562: 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,

198-704: The Cabinet of Ministers. Many key departments were housed here including the Treasury and the Ministry of Finance. Soon many of the government ministries and departments moved out of the building to new buildings due their expansion. By the 1950s the building was known as the General Treasury and by the 1980s the building was completely occupied by the Ministry of Finance and its departments. This building

220-618: The Ceylonese, and the movement for constitutional reforms grew. Further reforms were enacted in 1920 by the First Manning Reforms . Membership was increased from 21 to 37, of which 14 were official and 23 were unofficial. Of the non-official members, four were appointed by the governor (two Kandyan Sinhalese, one Muslim and one Indian Tamil ) and the remaining 19 were elected (11 on a territorial basis, five Europeans, two Burghers and one Chamber of Commerce). A notable change

242-1102: The Legislative Council consisted of 16 members: the British Governor , the five appointed members of the Executive Council of Ceylon (the Colonial Secretary , the Attorney General , the Auditor-General , the Treasurer and the General Officer Commanding ), four other government officials (including the Government Agents of the Western and Central provinces) and six appointed unofficial members (three Europeans, one Sinhalese , one Tamil and one Burgher ). The unofficial members had no right to initiate legislation; they could only contribute to discussion. This

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264-640: The Public Works Department, Austin Woodeson , was responsible for the design of the building. The initial estimate of Rs 400,000 for the scheme was later revised by the Public Works Advisory Board to Rs 450,000, taking into account the extra expenses involved. The building was opened on 29 January 1930, by Governor Sir Herbert Stanley . The new building was of two parts, the smaller but grander Council Chamber with

286-425: 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

308-600: The appointment of Madrassi Revenue Collectors, whose office became known as a Kachcheri . 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 ,

330-692: The colony, with the offices of the Colonial Secretary and the Treasurer along with their staff and several government departments. Effectively the two building became the centre of the government of the island for the next twenty years till Ceylon gained independence in 1949. For many years after independence the headquarters of the CID of the Police was based here on the fourth floor which gain much ill fame. Following independence, new government ministries and departments were set up to carry out policy formulated by

352-459: 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. This Sri Lankan politics-related article

374-525: The non-official members, eight were appointed by the governor (three Muslim, two Indian Tamils and three others) and the remaining 29 were elected (23 on a territorial basis, three Europeans, two Burghers, one Ceylon Tamil for the Western Province). The 23 territorial constituencies were distributed as follows: The head of the Legislative Council had been the Governor, but the new reforms created

396-695: The post of President of the Legislative Council , which was held by the Governor on a nominal basis, and the Vice President of the Legislative Council was elected, who was James Peiris . Four non-official members were also selected to be part of the Executive Council. Due to the shortcomings of the Second Manning Reforms the Donoughmore Commission was sent to Ceylon. The Commission gained its name from

418-544: The royal commission under the Earl of Donoughmore that came to Ceylon in 1927. Its recommendations led to Ceylon gaining limited self-government and the replacement of the Legislative Council with the State Council of Ceylon in 1931. The President of the council is the Governor of Ceylon . Official members included permanent or acting office holders: Government Agent (Sri Lanka) A Government Agent (GA) or

440-402: Was reformed in 1910 by the McCallum Reforms . Membership was increased from 18 to 21, of which 11 were official and 10 were unofficial. Of the non-official members, six were appointed by the governor (two Low Country Sinhalese, two Tamils, one Kandyan Sinhalese and one Muslim) and the remaining four were elected (two Europeans, one Burgher and one educated Ceylonese). The most notable aspect of

462-451: Was the first step towards giving the people of the country a voice in its administration. However, in 1860 the member of the Legislative Council were given the right to introduce legislation which did not deal with the financial matters. In 1889 the number of appointed unofficial members was increased to eight (three Europeans, one Low Country Sinhalese, one Kandyan Sinhalese, one Tamil, one Muslim and one Burgher). The Legislative Council

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484-503: Was the introduction of territorial constituencies. Of the 11 territorial constituencies, three were from the Western Province and one each from the other eight provinces. Three non-official members were elected to the Executive Council. Yet again the Ceylonese were not satisfied and requested more change. The Second Manning Reforms of 1923 increased membership from 37 to 49, of which 12 were official and 37 were unofficial. Of

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