Mayor of Colombo

The Mayor of Colombo is the elected head of the Colombo Municipal Council. The post was created in 1866 when the Colombo Municipal Council was established by the Legislative Council of Ceylon. The mayor is assisted by the deputy mayor and a Municipal Commissioner. Since 1944 all but two of the mayors that have served have been from the United National Party (UNP), with one being a UNP-backed independent.

Mayor of Colombo
Incumbent vacant since 19 March 2023[1][2]
Colombo Municipal Council
Style	His/ Her Worship
Residence	Sirinivasa
Seat	Town Hall, Colombo
Constituting instrument	Municipal Council Ordinance No. 17 of 1865
Formation	1866
First holder	Charles Peter Layard
Deputy	Vacant

Election

The mayor is elected in a general election held under the Local Authority Election Ordinance from the party gaining the highest number of seats in the municipal council. Once elected the mayor may hold office for four years.^[3]

Powers and functions

Most powers are derived from the Municipal Council Ordinance No. 29 of 1947. The Mayor serves as the chief executive of the municipal council.^[3]

The municipal council is responsible for:

• Social service
• Health and environmental issues
• Emergency services (not policing, which is the responsibility of the central government)
• Urban planning
• Sanitation (waste, sewage)

Rights and privileges

The mayoral office is located at the Colombo Town Hall and the official mayoral residence is Sirinivasa. The mayor's legal title is His/Her Worship the Mayor of Colombo.

Under the provisions of the Municipal Councils Ordinance the mayor and deputy mayor are ex-official Justice of the Peace and Unofficial Magistrates for the administrative district in which the municipality is situated for the duration of their tenure. This is provided so that the mayor or deputy mayor may preside over the municipal magistrate's court.^[3]

Official dress

On formal occasions the Mayor wears a scarlet gown with the Mayoral Chain of Office.

Salary

The Mayor of Colombo's salary is Rs 30,000 per month, which is same of all mayors of municipalities in Sri Lanka.^[4]

List of mayors

Parties

  United National Party   Sri Lanka Freedom Party   Independent

Chairmen

Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Refs
Charles Peter Layard		January 1866	June 1877	[5]
Frederick Richard Saunders		July 1877	December 1883
William Dumaresq Wright		January 1884	6 August 1886
G. S. Williams		August 1886	August 1887
George Thomas Michael O'Brien		September 1887	September 1887
Lionel Frederick Lee		October 1887	November 1887
Hardinge Hay Cameron		November 1887	September 1893
Charles Edward Ducat Pennycuick		October 1893	April 1895
Ferdinando Hamblyn Price		May 1895	March 1901
Arthur Sampson Pagden		April 1901	February 1905
E. M. de C. Short		March 1905	May 1910
K. W. B. McLeod		May 1910	April 1912
C. R. Cumberland		May 1912	November 1912
W. E. Thorpe		December 1912	January 1913
E. B. Alexander		February 1913	October 1913
R. W. Byrde		November 1913	September 1919
T. Reid		October 1919	July 1924
Hubert Ernest Newnham		August 1924	July 1931
Walter Terence Stace		July 1931	March 1932
William Lindsay Murphy		March 1932	March 1935
William Lindsay Murphy		November 1935	May 1937

Mayors

Name		Portrait	Party	Took office	Left office	Refs
	Ratnasothy Saravanamuttu			May 1937	December 1937	[6][7][8]
	V. R. S. Schokman			January 1938	December 1939	[9][10]
	A. E. Goonesinghe			January 1940	December 1940	[11]
	Ratnasothy Saravanamuttu			January 1941	December 1942
	George R. de Silva			January 1943	December 1943
	R. A. de Mel			January 1944	December 1944
	R. S. F. de Mel			January 1945	December 1945
	R. A. de Mel			January 1946	December 1946
	R. S. F. de Mel			January 1947	December 1949
	Kumaran Ratnam			January 1950	December 1950
	S. Sellamuttu			January 1951	December 1951	[12][13][14]
	C. T. Grero			January 1952	11 August 1953	[15]
	T. Rudra			21 September 1953	13 August 1954	[16][17]
	N. M. Perera		Lanka Sama Samaja Party	13 August 1954	28 February 1956	[18][19][20]
	V. A. Sugathadasa		United National Party	6 March 1956	1 December 1957	[21][22][23]
	M. H. Mohamed		United National Party	12 January 1960	10 January 1963
	V. A. Sugathadasa		United National Party	10 January 1963	10 April 1965
	Vincent Perera		United National Party	10 April 1965	1966	[24][25]
	Jabir A. Cader		United National Party	1966	1969	[26]
	Vincent Perera		United National Party	1970	1973
	A. H. M. Fowzie		United National Party	1974	1977	[27][28][29]
	B. Sirisena Cooray		United National Party	1979	1989	[30][31][32]
	M. Hussain Mohamad		United National Party	1989	1991	[33][34]
	Ratnasiri Rajapakse		United National Party	1991	1994	[35][36][37]
	K. Ganeshalingam		United National Party	June 1996	March 1997	[38][39][40]
	Karu Jayasuriya		United National Party	1997	1999	[41][42][43]
	Omar Kamil		United National Party	1999	2002	[44][45][46]
	Prasanna Gunawardena		United National Party	3 June 2002	2006	[47][48]
	Uvais Mohamed Imitiyas		Independent UNP-backed	2 June 2006	2010	[49][50][51]
	A. J. M. Muzammil		United National Party	17 October 2011	31 March 2016	[52][53]
	Rosy Senanayake		United National Party	6 March 2018	19 March 2023	[1]

References

1. "Rosy to be new mayor". The Sunday Leader. 21 August 2016.
2. "Rosy becomes first female Mayor of Colombo – LankaPuvath". 20 March 2018.
3. Municipal Council Ordinance
4. "Hiru News Official Web Site - Most visited website in Sri Lanka". Hiru News.
5. "Charles Peter Layard". Genealogy.links.org. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
6. Arumugam, S. (1997). Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon (PDF). pp. 181–182.
7. "He gave of his best, but died a disillusioned man". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 28 May 2000.
8. Maniccavasagar, Chelvatamby (24 February 2012). "Colombo Municipal Council's 147th anniversary". Daily News (Sri Lanka).
9. "Our New President" (PDF). Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon. XXXV (4): 97. April 1946.
10. "Mayoral Election in Colombo". The Straits Times. 13 February 1939. p. 16.
11. Jayasekera, Upali S. (1 May 2013). "Father of the Labour Movement". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).
12. Arumugam, S. (1997). Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon (PDF). p. 187.
13. Maniccavasagar, Chelvatamby (5 September 2013). "Paying homage to Lord Ganesha". Daily News (Sri Lanka).
14. Jayanetti, Lalith (4 October 2003). "Ceylon Theatres marks 75 years". The Island (Sri Lanka).
15. Salgado, Upali K. (19 October 2011). ""Once Upon A Time" – Colombo And Nostalgic Memories". The Island (Sri Lanka).
16. Arumugam, S. (1997). Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon (PDF). p. 166.
17. "Rajapakse navigates a consensus, UNP girds to fight for CMC". The Island (Sri Lanka). 7 May 2006.
18. Abeynayake, Stanley E. (30 April 2006). "Dr. N. M. Perera: The first Leftist Mayor of Colombo". Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka).
19. Wijenayake, Walter (13 August 2009). "Dr. N. M. Perera: a politician ahead of his times". The Island (Sri Lanka).
20. Perera, Ravi (30 June 2015). "NM at 110". Daily FT.
21. Ganegoda, Ariyaratne (10 July 2012). "V.A.Sugathadasa Commemoration". Ceylon Today.
22. Perera, Yohan (17 October 2011). "Mayor could do many things: Ranil". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).
23. Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (15 June 2008). "Last TULF Leader standing: Sangaree at 75". The Nation (Sri Lanka). Archived from the original on 20 February 2014.
24. "The man behind the specs". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 28 May 2006.
25. Ranatunga, D. C. (7 May 2011). "Engineer's 'digs' in UK for a Colombo street name". Daily FT.
26. Weerakoon, Gamini (11 January 2009). "Lasantha: A classic case of publish and be damned". The Sunday Leader.
27. "The name game". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 14 March 1999.
28. Wedaarachchi, L. S. Ananda (18 September 2011). "Six former Mayors back Milinda Moragoda". Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka).
29. "The new Mayor of Colombo". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). 12 July 2006.
30. Ferdinando, Shamindra (2 February 2006). "Mini battle for Key to Colombo city". The Island (Sri Lanka).
31. Fernando, Basil (25 July 2012). "On the 23rd of Black July, one man destroyed his nation". Sri Lanka Guardian.
32. "Sirisena Cooray is back in the UNP Central Committee". Asian Tribune. 22 September 2005.
33. Rasooldeen, M. D. (18 March 2014). "Sri Lanka nominates new ambassador to KSA". Arab News.
34. "Free spectacles were distributed at the Sri Lanka Islamic Centre, Maligawatte to mark the former Speaker and Minister M.H. Mohamed's 93rd birthday..." Daily FT. 21 June 2014.
35. "Ex-Colombo Mayor passes away". The Island (Sri Lanka). 15 September 2003.
36. "News in brief". Daily News (Sri Lanka). 13 September 2003.
37. "'Siri Aiya' who revived the JVP". Daily FT. 18 April 2015.
38. "Bullets after bullets hit UNP". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 16 February 1997.
39. Satyapalan, Franklin R. (3 September 2011). "Mrs. Yamuna Ganeshalingam contests CMC on UPFA ticket". The Island (Sri Lanka).
40. Maniccavasgar, Chelvathamy (3 January 2012). "K Ganeshalingam's 74th birth anniversary: Multi-faceted and multi-dimensional personality". Daily News (Sri Lanka). Archived from the original on 3 July 2013.
41. Peiris, Roshan (30 March 1997). "Going for the old world charm". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka).
42. "Why Karu Jayasuriya Should Lead the UNP". The Island (Sri Lanka). 16 January 2006.
43. "Karu Jayasuriya's journey to 'political hell'". Ceylon Today. 22 June 2014.
44. "Colombo taxi drivers rebel over uniforms". BBC News. 13 August 2000.
45. "Omar Kamil elected MICH president". The Island (Sri Lanka). 3 September 2008.
46. "Colombo Mayor thanks citizens". Daily News (Sri Lanka). 8 December 2001.
47. "The Island". The Island (Sri Lanka). 4 June 2002.
48. "UNP Colombo Central Operational Headquarters inaugurated". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). 5 November 2005.
49. "New Colombo Mayor sworn in". BBC Sinhala. 2 June 2006.
50. Gunaratna, Harischandra (3 June 2006). "Cooray swears in new Mayor". The Island (Sri Lanka).
51. "Put your hands together… His Worship, The Mayor". The Nation (Sri Lanka). 4 June 2006.
52. "Muzammil as Mayor of the CMC". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). 17 October 2011.
53. "Dressing up His Worship!". Daily FT. 18 October 2011.

Sources

• Hulugalle, H. A. J. (September 1965). Centenary Volume of the Colombo Municipal Council (1865 – 1965) (PDF). Colombo Municipal Council. pp. 53–54.
• "Past Mayors of Colombo". Colombo Municipal Council. Archived from the original on 2014-08-20.
• Wagista, Kumaradasa (1 February 1998). "Century of caring for Colombo". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka).
• Maniccavasagar, Chelvatamby (24 February 2012). "Colombo Municipal Council's 147th anniversary: Largest Local Authority in SL". Daily News (Sri Lanka).
• Warnakulasuriya, Deepal (27 May 2007). "Colombo Mayor in a quagmire!". Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka).
• Amaranayake, Vindya; Wamanan, Arthur (26 September 2010). "In defence of the CMC…". The Nation (Sri Lanka).

External links

• Colombo Municipal Council