The president of the Senate of Ceylon, was the presiding officer and the highest ranking-official of the

Senate of Ceylon The Senate was the upper chamber of the parliament of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Commission. The Senate was appointed and indirectly elected rather than directly elected. It was housed in the old Legislative Coun ...

. The president of the Senate was the fourth most senior position in the government, following the

governor general Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...

, 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 ...

and the chief justice. The Senate was created on 1947 with the abolition of the

Soulbury Commission The Soulbury Commission ( si, සෝල්බරි කොමිෂන් සභාව ''Solbari Komishan Sabhawa''; ta, சோல்பரி ஆணைக்குழு), announced in 1944 was, like its predecessor, the Donoughmore Commission, a ...

as the upper house with the

House of Representatives of Ceylon The House of Representatives was the lower chamber of the parliament of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Constitution. The House was housed in the old State Council building in Galle Face Green, Colombo and met for the ...

as the lower house. The position of president was created under clause 16 of the ''Ceylon (Constitution) Order in Council'', 1947, which required the Senate at its first constituted meeting to elect two senators to the role of president and deputy president. The position becoming vacant when the president either resigned or ceased to be a senator. The president had the

casting vote A casting vote is a vote that someone may exercise to resolve a tied vote in a deliberative body. A casting vote is typically by the presiding officer of a council, legislative body, committee, etc., and may only be exercised to break a deadlock ...

in the event of a tied vote in the senate.

List of Senate presidents

The first president was Sir Gerard Wijeyekoon, who was elected at the first sitting of the senate on 14 October 1947. Following Wijeyekoon's death on 21 September 1952 Sir

Nicholas Attygalle Sir Nicholas Attygalle (14 July 1894 – 27 March 1970) was a Ceylonese academic, surgeon and a Senator. He was the President of the Senate of Ceylon from 1953 to 1960 and the first Ceylonese Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ceylon, where h ...

was elected to the position of president in October that year, less than a year after he was appointed to the senate. On 18 January 1955 Attygalle resigned from the senate to take up a position as the

vice chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

of the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Unive ...

. Sir

Cyril de Zoysa Sir Cyril de Zoysa ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රිමත් සිරිල් ද සොයිසා) (26 October 1896 – 2 January 1978) was a Sri Lankan industrialist, Senator and a philanthropist. The President of the Senate of Ceylon from 1 ...

was elected as president and Lady Adeline Molamure as deputy president on 15 February 1955.

References

External links

Evolution of the Parliamentary System, parliament.lk
{{Legislatures of modern Sri Lanka Senator of Ceylon

List of Senate presidents

See also

References

External links