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 ...

, the Cabinet of Ministers is the council of

ministers Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

that form the central government of

. The body of

senior minister Senior Minister is a political title. It may refer to: * Senior Minister of Canada, a political office in the Cabinet of Canada **Senior Minister, a ceremonial position before the title Deputy Prime Minister was introduced in 1977 * Senior Minister ...

s responsible and answerable to the

Parliament of Sri Lanka The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Shri Lanka Parlimenthuwa'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் ''Ila� ...

. The

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

is a member of the cabinet and its head. The current cabinet is the Wickremesinghe cabinet, which consists of 15 members from August 2020. There are also 38 state ministers who are not members of the cabinet.

Background

The

Executive Council of Ceylon The Executive Council of Ceylon was the Executive Council created in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) by the British colonial administration on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission along with the Legislative Council of Ceylon in March ...

was the Executive Council created in

British Ceylon British Ceylon ( si, බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ලංකාව, Britānya Laṃkāva; ta, பிரித்தானிய இலங்கை, Biritthāṉiya Ilaṅkai) was the British Crown colony of present-day Sri Lanka between ...

by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

colonial administration on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission along with the

Legislative Council of Ceylon The Legislative Council of Ceylon was the legislative body of British Ceylon, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1833, along with the Executive Council of Ceylon, on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission. It was the first f ...

, as the legislative body, on 13 March 1833. At its creation the Executive Council was headed by the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, along with five members appointed by the Governor. These five members were officials who held the posts of the Colonial Secretary, the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, the

Auditor-General A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level execut ...

, the Treasurer and the

General Officer Commanding, Ceylon General Officer Commanding, Ceylon (also known as ''Commander of Troops'' or ''Officer Commanding His/Her Majesties Troops, Ceylon'') was the designation of the General Officer appointed to command all British Army units stationed in the island of ...

. The Council exercised executive power and advised the governor. As a result of the ''First Manning Reforms'' three non-officials were elected to the executive council. With enactment of the new constitution of the ''Dominion of Ceylon'' in 1947 the Executive Council was replaced by a

National Cabinet National Cabinet is the Australian intergovernmental decision-making forum composed of the Prime Minister of Australia, prime minister and Premiers and Chief Ministers of the Australian states and territories, state and territory premiers an ...

Constitutional basis

As per the Sri Lankan Constitution, the

is a member of and head of the cabinet. The president appoints as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

, a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

who has the confidence of parliament. Other ministers of the cabinet are appointed by the president in consultation with the prime minister. The president may appoint himself to any ministry he chooses. According to the constitution the president must be the

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

. The President also appoints, in consultation with the Prime Minister, non-cabinet ministers (state ministers, project ministers) and Deputy ministers.

Powers and functions

Constitutionally, the ''Cabinet of Ministers charged with the direction and control of the Government of the Republic'' and is collectively responsible and answerable to Parliament. Cabinet Ministers may table cabinet papers.

Meetings

Cabinet meets on a regular basis, usually weekly on a Tuesday to discuss the most important issues of government policy. The president typically chairs the meeting and sets the agenda. All Cabinet meetings are held behind closed doors and the

minutes Minutes, also known as minutes of meeting (abbreviation MoM), protocols or, informally, notes, are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of the meeting and may include a list of attendees, a state ...

are kept confidential. The Cabinet meets at the

Old Parliament Building, Colombo The Old Parliament Building, is the building that houses the Presidential Secretariat of Sri Lanka. Situated in the Colombo fort area facing the sea, it is in close proximity to the President's House, Colombo and adjacent to the General Treasur ...

Committees

A Cabinet

Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

comprises a subset of the larger Cabinet, consisting of a number of ministers who have responsibility in related areas of policy.

Administration

The Cabinet offices, are located at the Republic Building and is headed by the Secretary to the Cabinet, appointed by the President.

Privileges of office

Salary

A Cabinet minister would receive a salary of Rs. 140,000 (having been increased from 65,000 from January 2018); paid monthly from the respective ministry budget. In addition, since all ministers are members of parliament they are entitled to allowances and benefits of parliamentarians.Of Ministers’ Salaries And Parliamentary Perks
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Official residence and office

Cabinet Ministers are entitled to an

official residence An official residence is the House, residence of a head of state, head of government, governor, Clergy, religious leader, leaders of international organizations, or other senior figure. It may be the same place where they conduct their work-relate ...

, as well as an office and personal staff allocated from his ministry.

Travel

Each Cabinet Minister is entitled to three vehicles, which includes an official vehicle and security vehicle provided and maintained by their ministry. For domestic air travel, helicopters from the No. 4 (VVIP/VIP) Helicopter Squadron of the

Sri Lanka Air Force The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) ( si, ශ්‍රි ලංකා ගුවන් හමුදාව, Śrī Laṃkā guwan hamudāva; ta, இலங்கை விமானப்படை, Ilaṅkai vimāṉappaṭai) is the air arm and the yo ...

are charted by the ministry.

Security

Traditionally security for the ministers have been provided by the

Sri Lanka Police (The one who lives by the Dhamma is protected by the Dhamma itself) , mission = , formedyear = , preceding1 = Ceylon Police Force (1866–1972) , dissolved = , superseding = , employees = ...

. During emergencies military units have been allocated to bolster security to certain ministers based on threat levels. At present the Ministerial Security Division is in charge of security of ministers.

Order of precedence

In the

Sri Lankan order of precedence The Order of Precedence in Sri Lanka the protocol list at which Sri Lankan government officials are seated according to their rank. This is not the list of succession. Current Order of Precedence # The President of Sri Lanka # The Prime Ministe ...

, cabinet ministers are placed after the Former Presidents, but before Governor of the Province (within their respective province).

Incumbent Cabinet

Lists of former cabinets

References

External links

Office of the Cabinet of Ministers, Sri Lanka
{{Asia topic, Cabinet of , title=National cabinets of Asia