Lalith Chandrakumar Weeratunga ( Sinhala: ලලිත් වීරතුංග

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

: லலித் வீரதூங்க) (known as ''Lalith Weeratunga''), (born 14 May 1950)

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 ...

, is 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 ...

to the President of Sri Lanka (also known as the President's Secretary). As the President's Secretary he was the top civil servant in the country and ''de facto'' head of the

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

. Prior to the appointment he was the Secretary to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. He was the

Senior Advisor to the President Senior Advisor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States. White House senior advisors are senior members of the White House Office. The title has been formally used since 1993. Res ...

of Sri Lanka (From 2019 to July 2022).

Education

Weeratunga received his primary education at

Rahula College Rahula College ( Sinhala: රාහුල විද්‍යාලය ''Rāhulaa Vidyālaya'') (Tamil: ராஹுல வித்தியாலம் ''Rāhula vittiyālam'') is a boys' school in Sri Lanka, located in Matara district. Though ...

, Matara before moving to

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 Janu ...

for his secondary education. Mr Weeratunga holds a master's degree in Business Administration from the

University of Colombo (Buddhih Sarvatra Bhrajate) , mottoeng = ''Wisdom Enlightens'' , established = , endowment = LKR 1.461 billion

and a bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences from the same university. later attended

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

for postgraduate studies. He is a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow of the Pennsylvania State University, United States.

Career

Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to President of Sri Lanka, assumed this position in November 2005 when Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Prior to this, Mr Weeratunga held the position of Secretary to 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 i ...

from April 2004. Formerly, he was the Director, Re-engineering Government in the Information & Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka. He has also been a Senior Consultant at the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) of the

University of Sri Jayewardenepura ''Vijja Uppattam Setta'' , mottoeng = Among all that arise, knowledge is the greatest , established = , undergrad = 14,750 , postgrad = 3560 , administrative_staff = 3950 , cit ...

, teaching both the Masters in Business Administration and Masters in Public Administration programmes. Weeratunga entered the

(SLAS) in January 1977 and has held a number of senior positions in the public service as Secretary to the Prime Minister, Additional Secretary, Prime Minister's Office, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Education & Higher Education, Director General, Tertiary & Vocational Education Commission, Vice Chairman, National Apprenticeship Board, and Senior Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports. In the early part of his career, he was an Assistant Government Agent. He had also been Chief Technical Advisor/Vocational Training Specialist in the Regional Office of the International Labour Organization (ILO) for Asia & Pacific, Thailand and had worked as a Consultant of the United Nations Development Programme for the Government of

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

. In addition, he has done several consultancies for the

ILO The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and ol ...

. Weeratunga is the Chairman of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka and in addition, chairs the Presidential Task Force for National Productivity and the National Administrative Reforms Council. Throughout his career, he has served many Task Forces, Committees and Governing Councils of universities and Boards of directors of Public Corporations and Statutory Boards. He is also the current Chair of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Committee of

ESCAP The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to increase economic ...

– the Economic & Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. In September 2010, Weeratunga was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the

Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) traces to the British Empire's Pacific Cable Board in 1901, though in its current form, was created by international treaty, the ''Commonwealth Telegraphs Agreement'' between Commonwealth Nat ...

at its 50th Council Meeting.

Corruption Charges

Weeratunga with Anusha Pelpita was acquitted from a case charging them with misappropriation of Government funds by distributing ‘Sil’ cloth to temples island-wide at a cost of Rs. 600 million belonging to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission during the 2015 Presidential Election. Judge Wickremasinghe of 2-member Appeals Court pointed out that the three indictments filed against the accused in connection with the misappropriation of funds had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt, and ordered that the accused be acquitted and released.

Family

He is married to Indrani Sugathadasa Weeratunga.

References

External links