Ceylon Civil Service
This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2008) |
The Ceylon Civil Service, popularly known by its acronym CCS, was the premier civil service of the Government of Ceylon under British colonial rule and in the immediate post-independence period. Established in 1833, it functioned as part of the executive administration of the country to various degrees until Ceylon gained self-rule in 1948. Until it was abolished on 1 May 1963 it functioned as the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that assisted the Government of Ceylon.[1]
Many of the duties of the CCS were taken over by the much larger
History
The origins of the service dates back to 1798, when the
Following the
The
The
Grades
The civil service was made up of several grades, appointments to these grades will be made by the Public Service Commission;
- Class I
- Grade I
- Grade II
- Class II
- Cadet
- Passed Cadets
- Unpassed Cadets
- Class III
The formally the Chief Secretary of the Government of Ceylon was the head of the CCS, since 1948 this functioned was carried out by the Secretary to the Treasury. Senior appointments such as department heads and
Admission to the service was made from the grades of Cadet and Class III. In the early days, the CCS was staffed by Europeans, members of the
After completion of two years of service, they would face an efficiency bar exam and interview and be entitled to draw pay as Passed Cadet and will be entitled to appointed to the grade of Class II. The Public Service Commission on recommendation of the head of the CCS will appointed to the grade of Class II, Cadets entitled for promotion and officers from Class III which was a rarity. Cadets who failed to pass the efficiency bar exam in three years had their appointment from the CCS terminated.
Officers of Class II would take up posts such as assistant secretary, assistant commissioner or assistant government agent. Their training included a certain degree of practical legal training and examination as most Cadets and Class II officers used to function as
This ensured that the top administrative positions during the colonial-era and top non-elected government positions in the post-independence era were held by the best available candidates who were well trained and experienced. This was very important since the appointments were permanent. The officers of the CCS therefore commanded a high level of respect and considered themselves elite, a situation which has continued into the early 21st century.
When the CCS was abolished its officers were taken in to the
Positions
The following posts were normally held by CCS officers:
- Land Commissioner
- Government Agent (nine provinces)
- Principle Collector of Customs
- Registrar General
- Registrar of Co-operative Societies
- Settlement Officer
- Commissioner of Motor Traffic
- Director of Land Development
- Controller of Immigration and Emigration
CCS members who entered politics
- C. P. de Silva – Cabinet Minister and Leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party
- Cathiravelu Sittampalam– first Cabinet Minister of Posts and Telecommunications
- Sir Arthur Ranasinghe – Cabinet Minister
- Sir Kanthiah Vaithianathan – Cabinet Minister of Housing and Social Services
- Deshamanya Nissanka Wijeyeratne – Cabinet Minister of Education, Higher Education and Justice
- Ronnie De Mel– Cabinet Minister of Finance
- Sarath Amunugama – Cabinet Minister for Special Projects, Public Administration, Home Affairs and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning
- Walwin de Silva – former Member of Parliament
Notable members of the CCS
People who refused to join the CCS
See also
References |