Local Govt. bodies get extended term
by Ranil Wijayapala
The terms of 21 Local Government bodies due to expire on December 31
have been extended by six months to give them the required time-frame
for the Government to finalise the delimitation process and conduct the
next local government election under the new electoral system; a mixture
of the first past the post system and the proportional representation
system.
President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday said the terms of 21 Local
Government bodies of due to expire on December 31 have been extended by
six months after discussions with the Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe.
The President in October this year extended the term of 21 Municipal
Councils including the Colombo Municipal Council(CMC) which was due to
end in October, until December 31.
The CMC celebrated its 150th anniversary on December 13.
According to Kamal Pathmasiri, Secretary to the Provincial Councils
and Local Government Ministry, these 21 local government bodies consist
of Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas.
“The other local government bodies are already dissolved and are
functioning under Municipal Commissioners and Secretaries,” he added.
Out of the 335, the term of office of 234 expired on May 15, 2015
while that of another 65 local bodies expired on July 31, 2015.
He said the Ministry was now processing around 2000 appeals received
on the demarcation of the Ward system to address grievances of political
parties, civil organisations and individuals over the delimitation
process of local government bodies.
All appeals have been classified into sub categories and will be
processed by the committee appointed to look into these appeals before
finalising the Wards under local government bodies he added. |