Parliament of - Secretary-General of Parliament

Secretary-General of Parliament

The Secretary General of Parliament is the Chief Executive Officer of the Parliament and is appointed by the President with the concurrence of the Parliamentary Council. The Office of the Secretary General of Parliament is a constitutionally protected post. One of the main functions of the Secretary General of Parliament is to advice the Speaker and other Presiding Officers on matters relating to Parliamentary procedure, constitutionality of Bills, Standing Orders, privileges and any other matters concerning the functioning of the Parliament. The Secretary General of Parliament is assisted by the Deputy Secretary General of Parliament and the Assistant Secretary General of Parliament in carrying out his/her responsibilities. The Secretary General is also the Chief Administrator and Accounting Officer of the Parliament. The staff of the Secretary General of Parliament is appointed by the Secretary General with the approval of the Speaker. The Secretary General or his/her nominee functions as Secretary to all Committees established by the Parliament.

About the Current Secretary-General of Parliament

Reaching the high office of Secretary-General of Parliament in 2012, Dhammika Dasanayake began his Parliamentary career as the Assistant Secretary General of Parliament in 1994 and became the Deputy Secretary General of Parliament in 2003.

Dhammika Dasanayake was educated at the D.S. Senanayake Vidyalaya and Royal College . He completed his LL.B and LL.M from the University of Colombo. After taking oaths as an Attorney at Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, in 1988 he was appointed as the Legal Consultant (Research) at the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau.

In 1989 he joined the Attorney-General’s Department as a State Counsel and conducted prosecutions on behalf of the State in many High Courts including the High Court of , Colombo, , , , , and . He has also appeared in many Fundamental Rights Petitions and Writ Applications on behalf of the State. He was also a former Visiting Lecturer in Law at the Open University of Sri Lanka and the Institute of Workers Education of the University of Colombo.

Mr. Dasanayake has attended many Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and SAARC Parliamentary Association Conferences and was the Regional Secretary of CPA Asia Region from 2010 to 2012. He has also participated in many bilateral Parliamentary visits accompanying the Honourable Speaker and Members of Parliament. Mr. Dasanayake was also awarded the prestigious Commonwealth Fellowship by the Commonwealth Foundation in the year 2000 in the field of Parliamentary Governance. Mr. Dasanayake was invited to lead a Parliamentary Expert Panel appointed by the IPU and the UNDP to carry out a ‘Needs Assessment Mission’ in Kabul, Afghanistan in the year 2004. The Panel was instrumental in working out the structure, administrative Parliament of Sri Lanka - Secretary-General of Parliament set-up and the Rules and Standing Orders for the new Parliament in Afghanistan. He was also invited to conduct several Workshops and Training Sessions for the first batch of Members of Parliament and the key Staff Members of the Afghan Parliament. Mr. Dasanayake was also invited by the UNDP to provide expertise to establish the Parliamentary Petitions Committee in the Republic of Laos in 2006. He is also an international Parliamentary Resource Person of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association who has conducted several staff training programmes in many Commonwealth countries.

He is married with three children and enjoys reading and photography.

Past Secretaries-General of Parliament

Mr. R. St. L. P. Deraniyagala (1947 - 1964)

Mr. S. S. Wijesinha (1964 - 1981)

Mr. S. N. Seneviratne (1981 - 1994)

Mr. Bertram Tittawella (1994 - 1999) Parliament of Sri Lanka - Secretary-General of Parliament

Mr. Dhammika Kitulgoda (1999 - 2002; 2008 - 2012)

Mrs. Priyanee Wijesekera (2002 - 2008)

Contact

Dasanayake WBD

[email protected]