Local government in Sri Lanka
[7] According to the Mahavamsa the earliest Sinhalese settlements, dating to the 4th century BC, were village based.
Village Councils (Gam Sabhas) administered local affairs, addressed people's grievances and settled minor disputes.
[7][8] The Colebrooke-Cameron Commission of 1833 recommended that some form of village committee system should be introduced.
[7][8][10] The ordinance allowed the Governor and the Legislative Council to create a Village Committee at the request of local residents.
Village Committees could now collect land tax and provide local services such as roads, water supply, common amenities and public health.
The Town Councils were divided into wards and provided local services such as thoroughfares, public health, common amenities, physical planning and the collection of revenue.
In addition, legislation was passed to abolish the Town Councils and Village Committees and to transfer their functions to the new DDCs.
The DDCs didn't live up to expectations and a new form of local government was sought.
20 and 24 of 1987 also changed the method of electing all local authority members from the first past the post using wards to proportional representation using open lists.
This meant that only the Central Government could create new local authorities, promote them, dissolve them and call an election.
In 1995 a Divisional Council was created for Biyagama which had previously been governed by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.
22 of 2012, changing the electoral system for electing local authority members from open list proportional representation to a mixed electoral system whereby 70% of members would be elected using first past the post voting and the remaining 30% through closed list proportional representation.
[24][25][26] Small parties and those representing ethnic parties complained that the new mixed electoral system put them at a disadvantage and as a result the government agreed to change the ratio between first past the post and proportional representation.
[1] Local authorities don't derive their powers from an individual source but from numerous Acts and Ordinances.
[33] The main Acts relating to local government are the Municipal Council Ordinance No.
Local authorities have the power to instigate legal action, enter into contracts, acquire land and employ staff.
[33] Laws require local authorities to carry out regulatory and administrative functions, promote public health and provide physical structures.
[33] Services provided by local authorities include roads, drains, parks, libraries, housing, waste collection, public conveniences, markets and recreational facilities.
Sri Lanka's local authorities do not run schools, hospitals or the police.
State schools, hospitals, and police service are run by the Central Government or Provincial Councils.
Water, electricity, street lighting and rest houses used to be provided by local authorities but these services were taken over by various companies and departments under the control of the Central Government.
[33] Prior to 1987 local authorities were elected using the first-past-the-post voting system with each member representing a ward.
20 and 24 of 1987 changed the method of electing all local authority members from first-past-the-post to proportional representation using open lists.
