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Decentralization and Development of Sri Lanka Within a Unitary State pp 33–60Cite as

Developmental Role and Financing of Sub-National Units of Government: The Case of Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka

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Abstract

The system of Provincial Councils (PC) in Sri Lanka, introduced by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution enacted in 1987, was intended as a package of devolution of state power to a set of elected institutions covering the nine administrative Provinces of the country.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The 13th amendment to the constitution provided for the break-up of activities between the national and provincial governments. It introduced three lists of activities—the Provincial list including those devolved to PCs, the National government list and the concurrent list. The government at both levels could exercise authority on the activities in the last list. The concurrent list has attracted many criticisms and one of these criticisms has been that it was used by the national government to restrict the degree of devolution of power to PCs.

  2. 2.

    This was so in spite of the fact that towards the end of the British rule there were proposals for greater devolution of power to regional bodies. The Donoughmore Commission of 1928, for example, made several significant pronouncements on its proposals for Provincial Councils. See Bruce Matthews (1982), “District Development Councils in Sri Lanka”, Asian Survey, 22:11, 1117–1134.

  3. 3.

    There is a detailed factual description of the Sri Lankan movement towards administrative decentralisation and the various systems adopted for the purpose in the country case study carried out for the Food and Agriculture Organisation by Bedgar Perera on “Impact of decentralization on rural development at the local level”: See http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/ac158e/ac158e0g.htm.

  4. 4.

    The incidents of communal violence in the second half of the 1950s, particularly in 1958, for example, commenced in the aftermath of minority protests against the enactment of the Sinhala Only Act (1957) making Sinhala, the language spoken by the majority community, replace English as the country’s only official language. From the point of view of the minority Tamil community, there were other irritants as well in the second half of the 1950s, arising out of official actions. On 1958 communal riots an easy reference would be: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_riots_in_Ceylon. The available published literature in the subject of Sri Lankan ethnic conflict is vast. Asoka Bandarage (2009). The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka: Terrorism, Ethnicity, Political Economy is an easy reference for a comprehensive history of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

  5. 5.

    There is no academic or international legal consensus about what terrorism means. Various legal systems and government agencies use different definitions as the term is politically and emotionally charged. I am using the word in the text to mean what the United Nations General Assembly describes as: “Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them.” (1994 United Nations Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism annex to UN General Assembly resolution 49/60, “Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism”, of December 9, 1994, UN Doc. A/Res/60/49.

  6. 6.

    There was no mass movement even in these Provinces for such power devolution at the time, although the politically mature groups would have articulated ideas of devolved governance for their regions.

  7. 7.

    Amita Shastri, “Sri Lanka’s Provincial Council System: A Solution to the Ethnic Problem?”, Asian Survey, Vol. 32, No. 8 (Aug., 1992), pp. 723–743.

  8. 8.

    The Governor has direct executive powers deriving from the Constitution. The Governor can perform his/her functions directly or through the Board of Ministers or through officers subordinate to him/her. The function of the Board of Ministers is to aid and advise the Governor in the implementation of his/her functions. The Governor appoints the Board of Ministers, consisting of the Chief Minister and four other ministers. The Board of Ministers is collectively responsible and answerable to the PC. The Chief Secretary is appointed by the President with the concurrence of the Chief Minister. The Chief Secretary is the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Accounting Officer of the Province.

  9. 9.

    See the paper on Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations at: http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/decentralization/fiscal.htm.

  10. 10.

    See para 84 of the Budget Speech for 2011.

  11. 11.

    The difference between the numbers in the last two rows in Table 3.1 indicates the size of these transfers during 2011 and 2012.

  12. 12.

    As noted, these are the revenues collected by the central government from three taxes and charges—NBT, Stamp Duty and Vehicle Registration Fee. The revenues from these taxes are transferred to PCs in the ratios indicated earlier in the text.

Bibliography

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Acknowledgements

The assistance of Messrs. W.H. Munasinghe and P. Sumanapala, respectively the Secretary and the Director of the Finance Commission in the preparation of this paper is gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SANASA Campus Ltd., Paragammana, Hettimulla, Kegalle, Sabaragamuwa, Sri Lanka

    W. D. Lakshman

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  1. W. D. Lakshman
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Correspondence to W. D. Lakshman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. International University of Japan , Uonumashi, Niigata, Niigata, Japan

    N.S. Cooray

  2. Faculty of Economics, University of Colombo , Colombo, Sri Lanka

    Sirimal Abeyratne

Annexure

Annexure

1.1 Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution

Extract from Ninth Schedule

  • Provincial Council List

  1. 1.

    Planning—implementation of provincial economic plans

  2. 2.

    Education

  3. 3.

    Local government

  4. 4.

    Housing and construction

  5. 5.

    Roads

  6. 6.

    Social services and rehabilitation

  7. 7.

    Agriculture and agrarian services

  8. 8.

    Rural development

  9. 9.

    Health and indigenous medicine

  10. 10.

    Land

  11. 11.

    Irrigation

  • Concurrent List

  1. 1.

    Planning

  2. 2.

    Higher education

  3. 3.

    National housing and construction.

  4. 4.

    Acquisition and requisitioning of property.

  5. 5.

    Social services and rehabilitation

  6. 6.

    Agricultural and agrarian services

  7. 7.

    Health

  8. 8.

    Co-operatives

  9. 9.

    Irrigation

  10. 10.

    Fisheries

  11. 11.

    Employment

  12. 12.

    Tourism

  13. 13.

    Trade and commerce

  14. 14.

    Price control

  15. 15.

    Drugs and poisons

  16. 16.

    Protection of the environment

  • Reserved List

  1. 1.

    National policy on all subjects and functions

  2. 2.

    Defense and national security

  3. 3.

    Foreign affairs

  4. 4.

    Posts and telecommunications 

  5. 5.

    Justice insofar as it relates to the judiciary and the courts structure

  6. 6.

    Finance in relation to national revenue

  7. 7.

    Foreign trade

  8. 8.

    Ports and harbors

  9. 9.

    Aviation and airports

  10. 10.

    National transport

  11. 11.

    Rivers and waterways

  12. 12.

    Immigration and emigration and citizenship

  13. 13.

    Elections

  14. 14.

    Census and statistics

  15. 15.

    Professional occupations and training

  16. 16.

    National archives 

  17. 17.

    All Subjects and functions not specified in list I or list III.

1.2 Subject Areas PCs are Constitutionally Permitted to Tax

  1. 1.

    Turnover taxes on wholesale and retail sales within such limits and subject to such exemptions as may be prescribed by law made by Parliament;

  2. 2.

    Betting taxes, and taxes on prize competitions and lotteries, other than National Lotteries and lotteries organized by Government of Sri Lanka;

  3. 3.

    License taxes, arrack, toddy rents, tapping license fees, and liquor license fees;

  4. 4.

    Motor vehicle license fees within such limits and subject to such exemptions as may be prescribed by law made by Parliament;

  5. 5.

    Dealership license taxes on drugs and other chemicals;

  6. 6.

    Stamp duties on transfer of properties, such as lands and motor cars;

  7. 7.

    Toll collections;

  8. 8.

    Fines imposed by courts;

  9. 9.

    Fees charged under the Medical Ordinance;

  10. 10.

    Fees charged under the Motor Traffic Act;

  11. 11.

    Departmental fees in respect of any of the matters specified in this List;

  12. 12.

    Fees under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance;

  13. 13.

    Fees on lands alienated under the Land Development Ordinance and Crown Lands Ordinance;

  14. 14.

    Court fees, including stamp fees on documents produced in court;

  15. 15.

    Regulatory charges under the Weights and Measures Ordinance;

  16. 16.

    Land revenue, including the assessment and collection of revenue, and survey and maintenance of land records for revenue purposes;

  17. 17.

    Taxes on lands and buildings, including the property of the State to the extent permitted by law made by Parliament;

  18. 18.

    Taxes on mineral rights within such limits and subject to such exemptions as may be prescribed by law made by Parliament;

  19. 19.

    Licensing fees on the possession transport, purchase and sale of intoxicating liquors;

  20. 20.

    Other taxation within the Province in order to raise revenue for provincial purposes to the extent permitted by or under any law made by Parliament.

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Lakshman, W.D. (2017). Developmental Role and Financing of Sub-National Units of Government: The Case of Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka. In: Cooray, N., Abeyratne, S. (eds) Decentralization and Development of Sri Lanka Within a Unitary State. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4259-1_3

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