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.