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 ...

, a Deputy Minister ( si, නියෝජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය, ta, துணை மந்திரி) is a politician a in a government

Ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

. A deputy minister serves as a deputy to a

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

and is ranked below a

State Minister Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

Appointment

Under the article 45 of the Sri Lankan Constitution, 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 ...

on the advice of the

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 ...

can appoint 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 ...

as a Deputy Minister to assist a Minister of the

Cabinet of Ministers A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countries ...

to carryout their duties. The post was created under the

Sri Lankan Constitution of 1972 The Sri Lankan Constitution of 1972 was a constitution of Sri Lanka, replaced by the 1978 constitution currently in force. It was Sri Lanka's first republican constitution, and its second since independence in 1948. The constitution changed th ...

replacing the former post of Parliamentary Secretary.{{cite web , title=Constitution of Sri Lanka , url=https://www.parliament.lk/files/pdf/constitution.pdf , website=parliament.lk , publisher=

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� ...

, accessdate=29 November 2019

Powers and duties

by publishing in the

Gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

can delegate to his/her deputy minister any power or duty coming under the subject or function assigned to the cabinet minister by law.

Privileges of office

Salary

A deputy minister would receive a salary of Rs. 135,000 (having been increased from 63,500 from January 2018); paid monthly from the respective ministry budget. In addition, since all deputy 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

Deputy ministers may not be formally 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 ...

, they have an office and personal staff allocated from their ministry.

Travel

Each deputy minister is entitled to two 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 = ...

since the 1987–1989 JVP insurrection. During emergencies military units have been allocated to bolster security to certain ministers based on treat levels. At present the Ministerial Security Division is in charge of security of ministers.

Order of precedence

In the Sri Lankan order of precedence, deputy ministers are placed after the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, but before the

Chief Government Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

(if the whip does not hold a ministerial position).

List of current deputy ministers

List of current deputy ministers in the

Gotabaya Rajapaksa cabinet The first Gotabaya Rajapaksa cabinet was a Cabinet of Sri Lanka, central government of Sri Lanka led by President of Sri Lanka, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. It was formed in November 2019 after the 2019 Sri Lankan presidential election, president ...

is as follows; *Non at present