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24-663: The suburb is divided into two village officer divisions (Gurunagar East and Gurunagar West) whose combined population was 3,520 at the 2012 census. The suburb is mainly populated by Catholic Sri Lankan Tamils , engaged in sea activities . The village is known in Jaffna due to its maritime history and also served as the western sector of the Jaffna Kingdom . Gurunagar, also spelled as Kurunagar derives its words from Kuru and Nagar (Urban centre in Tamil). The word Kuru

48-513: 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

72-505: A single group of practitioners known as Attorneys-at-laws . In 1975, he was appointed Minister of Finance succeeding N. M. Perera after he and other LSSP ministers were sacked by Sirima Bandaranaike. Felix Dias continued many of the socialist economic policies that nationalized private estates and industries, focusing on a centralized economy. These policies resulted in corruption and inefficiency, lead to economic decline. A stout loyalist of Sirima Bandaranaike , he supported her in having

96-582: Is Maithripala Sirisena . This Sri Lanka –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 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 Secretary for the Prime Minister and Defence and External Affairs ( de facto foreign minister ) (1960–1965) and Cabinet Minister of Justice (1970–77) in

120-505: Is a Sri Lankan public official appointed by the central government by the act No.2 of 1993. Grama Niladhari (GN) are entrusted with multifaceted duties and responsibilities under as 46 legislative enactments of Sri Lanka. His functions are 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

144-677: Is a clans name used by the Karaiyars also known as Kurukulam, who make up majority of Gurunagar. Karaiyur, as it was earlier known as stems from the Tamil words Karai (coast) and Ur (village). Karaiyur was marked in the Dutch maps as Cereoer. The earliest settlers of Jaffna , were according to local legend, a musician and his kinsfolk. The surmised place they first settled is in the area surrounding Gurunagar and Colombuthurai . The Columbuthurai Commercial Harbor situated at Colombuthurai and

168-602: The 1971 JVP Insurrection . This included the establishment of the Criminal Justice Commission to prosecute the captured insurgents and the effective police investigation into routing out the JVP. During his term as Minister of Justice, the legal system saw many changes. The Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka was established in 1971, the Justice Law No. 44 of 1973 saw Advocates and Proctors merged into

192-636: The Sirimavo Bandaranaike government, which replaced the post of village headman ( 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 . A notable example

216-710: The UNP government passed the Special Presidential Commissions of Inquiry Law No. 7 of 1978 to inquire into matters relating to alleged corruption during the 1970 – 1977 period. Felix successfully challenged the power of the Special Presidential Commission appointed to inquire against him. Immediately thereafter the Parliament passed the Special Presidential Commissions of Inquiry (Amendment) Act No. 4 of 1978 to enable

240-691: The harbor known as ‘ Aluppanthy ’ situated previously at the Gurunagar area seem as its evidences. The navy of the Aryacakravarti dynasty was crewed and officered by the people of Gurunagar. The Pattinathurai of Gurunagar was a port for foreign vessels. It is surmised that it was here the Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta , saw fleet of ships that belonged to the Aryacakravarti kings. The Maniagar and Adappans of Gurunagar served as one of

264-537: The Commission to re-inquire into the allegations. Thereafter, Two Supreme Court Judges and One Court of Appeal Judge was appointed to inquire into the allegations including those against Felix. Appearing in person and arguing on the basis that one Judge, K. C. E. de Alwis was unfit to hear cases due to his financial involvement with a person being investigated A. H. M. Fowzie . The Supreme Court held (2:1 majority with Neville Samarakoon CJ dissenting) that de Alwis

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288-567: The Home Affairs Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs . There are 14,015 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

312-547: The Satyagraha campaign in Jaffna in the 1961 and personally lead the crackdown and investigation into the 1962 military coup , rounding up the coup leaders and even personally interrogating them. He took many drastic steps to bring to leaders to bar, when the current law of the country was found inadequate to try the leaders he had the new Criminal Law Special Provision Act of 1962 drafted and passed by parliament. Due to problems in implementing rice subsidies he resigned from

336-717: The Supreme Court and Freda Dias Abeysinghe, he had a sister Christine Manel Dias Bandaranaike and a half brother of Prof. Michael Dias Bandaranaike who held the Chair of Jurisprudence at the University of Cambridge , he was also a nephew of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike . He was a scholar at Royal College, Colombo , at the University of Ceylon and at the Colombo Law College . Taking oaths as an Advocate , Felix Dias started his practice as in civil law. Following

360-536: The assassination of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike , Felix Dias entered politics to help his uncle's party. He was elected to parliament from the electorate of Dompe in the 1960 March general election and again in the 1960 July general election from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). With formation of the SLFP lead government of Bandaranaike's widow Sirima Bandaranaike as Prime Minister. Felix Dias

384-538: The cabinet of Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike . He was a very popular person about the anti-corruption campaign and also known as the "virtual leader of the state" during the SLFP governments after the death of Prime minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike . He was very active in defeating two major coups against the government, one is 1962 attempted military coup and JVP 's 1971 JVP Insurrection . Born on 5 November 1930 to Felix Reginald Dias Bandaranaike II , Judge of

408-556: The government extended by two more years using its majority in parliament, then the six years it was elected for ended in 1975. In 1977, SLFP faced a major defeat in the 1977 general election in which he lost his seat to Sarathchandra Rajakaruna of the United National Party . Felix filed several cases to prevent the abuse of power by the Government led by President Junius Richard Jayawardena . On 10 February 1978

432-579: The headmen of the Jaffna ports. The western section of the Jaffna Kingdom was allotted by the Karaiyars of Gurunagar. There existed a smaller fort in Colombuthurai and one at Pannaithurai near Gurunagar. In 1560, the Portuguese forces with 77 ships arrived in Gurunagar and defeated the Tamil army governing there before proceeding further to Nallur . The Cathedral of Jaffna in Gurunagar

456-400: The need to maintain judicial integrity and impartiality at all costs. He was deprived of his civic rights. Later he was diagnosed with cancer and left active politics. He died on 26 June 1985. Felix Dias Bandaranaike married Elizabeth Muthulakshmi Jayasundera (known as Lakshmie Dias Bandaranaike ) in 1953. She is a graduate of the University of Ceylon and Ceylon Law College and later became

480-587: The post of minister. He retained his seat in the 1965 general election , but the SLFP was defeated and found its self in the opposition. While in opposition he established a private farm. Felix Dias was considered to be instrumental in the major public administration reforms that took place during this time. This included the abolition of the Ceylon Civil Service , which was replaced by the Ceylon Administrative Service and

504-485: The replacement of the Village Headmen with that of Grama Sevaka . He retained his seat in the 1970 general election with the landslide victory of the SLFP lead coalition, he was appointed Minister of Justice in Sirima Bandaranaike's second cabinet with the portfolio of Public Administration, Local Government and Home Affairs . The following year he played a major role in guiding the country though

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528-408: Was a person unfit to hold the office of a Commissioner. In this landmark case, it was held by Samarakoon CJ. that "Right‑minded people would not be unjustified if they look askance at other decisions of the 1st respondent. It might undermine that faith in the Commission itself which is necessary to command respect for its recommendations. This must be avoided, whatever the cost" reiterating emphatically

552-602: Was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister of Finance, becoming the youngest Cabinet Minister of Finance in the Commonwealth, at the age of 29. He was concurrently appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and External Affairs . In the early years Sirima Bandaranaike began to relay heavily on Felix Dias making him a powerful figure behind the Bandaranaike government. He influenced the governments actions in subduing

576-439: Was constructed over an already existing smaller chapel. The chapel was constructed as the place where the Jaffna king Cankili I killed his own son for converting to Catholicism . Starting from the early 1920s, was the Gurunagar land reclamation scheme started, starting from modern Beach Road to Reclamation Road. Village officer division Grama Niladhari (English: village leader , Sinhala : ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී )

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