Recasting Of The Sri Lanka Administrative Service

By S. Sivathasan -February 22, 2014

S. Sivathasan

The article below written over 34 years ago but never published, is now being made public in CT in view of its topicality. A few might have wished that theSLAS was not created in the first instance. When the writer discussed with a senior Civil Servant he said that in the early fifties, JR Jayewardene desired to see the Civil Service and the Administrative Service co-exist. 

Some appreciate the survival capacity of the SLAS for 50 years and more. Some others see rectification in replacement. The writer saw fraying more than 35 years ago. The rather lengthy and detailed account seeks an elitist Civil Service culture and Administrative Service culture complementing each other. Both of them growing up, overshadowing and replacing the existing Service without displacing a single serving officer. In 20 to 30 years what was proposed would have been in place.

The writer’s public service experience is: any worthwhile document is long and anything long is not read. A respected civil servant told us 45 years back at a seminar “Any memorandum exceeding one page is never read in Colombo”. Many would affirm. 2.22.2014

In a modern state, the responsibility for a whole range of complex functions reposes with the Government. The vast spectrum of obligations impinge on virtually every sphere of human activity. This feature is particularly accentuated in a developing country seeking to compress the growth of centuries in a few decades. If the Government’s commitment to such a drive is firm, the administration has of necessity to be highly efficient. A point of crucial importance to be realised is that the tenor of administration at its commanding heights determines quality at levels below. It’s an elitist service that imparts this quality. Such a service is closely associated in formulating programmes and determining policy issues. From the privileged position in which it is placed, it becomes the repository of a rare experience. Such a background enables it to execute the policies of Government with competence and acceptance. Granted the above proposition, a Government should build up and nurture a service which deserves a superior status. The service should sustain its superiority through sheer excellence.                      Read More