Grama Niladhari

Grama Niladhari is a Sri Lankan public official appointed by the central government by
the act No.2 of 1993. Grama Niladhari are entrusted with multifaceted duties and responsibilities under as 46 legislative enactments of Sri Lanka.

Functions

Their functions are to carry out administrative duties in a grama niladhari division, which is a sub-unit of a divisional secretariat. They come under the Grama Niladhari Division under the Home Affairs Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs. There are 14,015 grama niladhari divisions under 331 divisional secretary’s division in the island.
The duties of a grama niladhari include the reporting of issuing of permits, gathering statistics, maintaining the voter registry and keeping the peace by settlement of personal disputes. They are responsible for keeping track of criminal activity in their area and issuing a certificate of residence and character on behalf of residents when requested by them. They may arrest individuals if sworn in as a Peace Officer. Establish and co-ordinate administrative policies and procedures for required community members and officials of the divisional secretariats.

History of the name

The post of Grama Sevaka ' was created in May 1963 as part of the public administration reforms carried out by Minister Felix Dias Bandaranaike in the Sirimavo Bandaranaike government, which replaced the post of village headman ' which dated back to the British the colonial era. All serving village headman were re-designated as Grama Sevakas under the Village Headmen Act, No. 6 of 1964. The designation modeled on that of public servant was later changed to grama niladhari which translated to village officer. A notable example is Maithripala Sirisena, who later became the President of Sri Lanka.