Deshamanya Chandana Aelian Coorey,

SLAS The Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පරිපාලන සේවය; śrī laṁkā paripālana sēvaya) is the key administrative service of the Government of Sri Lanka, with civi ...

(March 18, 1921 - ) was a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n civil servant. He was the former

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

of the Ministry of Finance & Treasury.Memories of an upright man
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Early life and education

Born in Panadura to Dr Henry Coorey and his wife Pussethi, he was the youngest of four brothers; Gerry H. Coorey, later Professor of Pathology, Clarrie O. Coorey later member of the Indian Civil Service and Lloyd R.Coorey a Proprietary Planter. Educated at the

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

, where he won the many prizes including the

Turnour Prize Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

and the de Soysa Science Prize. He won a scholarship at the University College, Colombo in 1939. There he read natural philosophy, and graduated First Class degree in chemistry in 1943 from the University of London winning the gold medal, and was selected for a government scholarship to

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

. However, due to World War II he could not travel to Oxford.

Career

He was appointed as an Assistant Lecturer in Chemistry however left the University of Ceylon when he was accepted to 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 the ...

in 1945. After serving as a civil service cadet, he was appointed in 1946 as an Assistant Government Agent, Kalmunai and served in many other capacities including that of Government Agent. In early 1970 he transferred to the Treasury and became the Deputy Secretary and later Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary to the Ministry of Finance in 1971. It was the most senior civil service post at the time. During his tenor, he introduced a program budgeting in the preparation of the estimates, whereby the programme of expenditure was published by every government department. He held to post until 1975 and retired from the Sri Lankan Administrative Service.

Later life

He went on to become an executive director for Sri Lanka, Laos, and Afghanistan on the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank, founder Chairman of the National Development Bank (1979–1989) and Chairman of the Development and Finance Corporation of Ceylon (1990–1999). In 1992 he was awarded the title of Deshamanya by the government of Sri Lanaka. He was married to his wife Lakshmi and had four children Dilrukshi, Mohan, Anura and Sharmini. The Deshamanya C.A. Coorey Memorial Prize is awarded annually at the Royal College Colombo in his memory. He died in March 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coorey, C.A. Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of the Ceylon University College 2004 deaths Sinhalese civil servants Permanent secretaries of Sri Lanka Deshamanya Indian Civil Service (British India) officers