Intergovernmental Profile: Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s subnational governance structure involves a combination of elected governance institutions and deconcentrated field administration tiers. Constitutional reforms in 1987 established Provincial Councils as the highest level of territorial-administrative governance below the central government. Below the provincial level, the central government’s field administration is organized into District Secretariats (25), Divisional Secretariats (332), and Grama Niladhari divisions (14,022). At the same territorial level as Divisional Secretariats, the constitutional reforms of 1987 also introduced elected urban and rural Local Government Authorities (341), including Municipal Councils, Urban Councils, and Pradeshiya Sabhas (Divisional or Vilage Councils). There are parallel—rather than hierarchical—governance relationship between succeeding government levels or tiers in Sri Lanka: rather than reporting to Provincial Councils, District Secretariats have their own budget votes in the central government budget (currently under the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government). Similarly, local authorities are administered under the auspices of their respective Provincial Councils, rather than under the District or Divisional Secretariat.

In addition to the fragmented subnational governance structure in Sri Lanka—with elected local authorities operating side-by-side with deconcentrated central government units—the degree of authority and autonomy of elected provincial councils and local authorities is limited. For instance, Provincial Councils and Local Authorities lack the autonomy to appoint their own chief executive officers (Provincial Secretary or Municipal/Local Commissioner), and rely heavily on grants from the central government budget. Their lack of autonomy and authority and autonomy has been compounded by the postponement of subnational elections. Provincial Council elections were last held in 2014, meaning that provinces have operated without elected political leadership since 2018. Similarly, the term of elected local officials formally expired in 2022, as the last local government elections took place in 2018. Due to their limited autonomy and control over provincial and local administration, provincial councils and local authorities should be considered hybrid governance institutions with features of both devolved and deconcentrated subnational institutions. In turn, District and Divisional Secretariats are classified as non-devolved institutions under the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government.

Sri Lanka’s system of assignment of functions and expenditure responsibilities is marked by duplication and centralization. By law, Provincial Councils and Local Authorities are assigned considerable functional responsibilities. In practice, however, many public sector functions are primarily performed by the central ministries and their deconcentrated offices. For instance, health and education count among the key services that are formally devolved to the provincial level. While provincial governments operate and manage some provincial schools and health facilities, in practice, the majority of public schools and health facilities are operated by the central government. Even to the extent that Provincial Councils are involved in public service delivery, their virtual lack of autonomy over decision-making, staffing, and financial resources greatly limits Provincial Councils’ ability to fulfill their constitutionally assigned functions. In practice, the functional responsibility of local authorities is limited to exclusive local functions such as solid waste management, local markets, parks, recreation and other community amenities, community health services, and pre-school education.