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The auditor general of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකා විගණකාධිපති Śrī Laṃkā viganakādhipathi; Tamil: இலங்கை கணக்காய்வாளர் தலைமை) is appointed by the President to aid accountability by conducting independent audits of government operations. These audits provide members of Parliament with objective information to help them examine the government's activities and hold it to account. According to the constitution, the auditor general is empowered to audit the accounts of all departments of Government, the Offices of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Judicial Service Commission, the Public Service Commission, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, the Secretary-General of Parliament and the Commissioner of Elections, local authorities, public corporations and business or other undertakings vested in the Government under any written law.[citation needed]
| Auditor General of Sri Lanka | |
|---|---|
| ශ්රී ලංකා විගණකාධිපති இலங்கை கணக்காய்வாளர் தலைமை | |
 | |
since 29 April 2019 | |
| Auditor-General's Department | |
| Seat | 306/72 Polduwa road, Battaramulla |
| Nominator | The President |
| Appointer | The President with Constitutional Council advice and consent |
| Formation | January 24, 1799 |
| First holder | Cecil Smith (as Accountant and Auditor General) |
| Website | auditorgeneral |
The auditor general of Sri Lanka is the head of the Auditor General's Department.[1][2][3]
List of auditors general
editWhile the title of Auditor General of Sri Lanka was formally adopted on the country's enactment of its 1978 republican constitution, the position or an equivalent to it has existed since 1799 under various titles.[3] The Department in its current form considers itself a continuation of the office established in 1799, and the table below thus lists all officeholders that have held positions equivalent to the position of the current Auditor General.[3]
| # | Auditor General | Took office | Left office | Appointed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accountant and Auditor General | ||||
| 1 | Cecil Smith | 24 January 1799 | 1799 | Frederick North |
| Civil Auditor and Accountant General | ||||
| 2 | Thomas Frazer | September 1799 | 1802 | Frederick North |
| Accountant General and Civil Auditor | ||||
| 3 | Robert Boyd | 29 September 1802 | 1806 | Frederick North |
| Civil Auditor General | ||||
| 4 | Samuel Tolfrey | 1 October 1806 | 1809 | Thomas Maitland |
| 5 | Richard Plasket | 14 June 1809 | 1811 | |
| 6 | Anthony Bertolacci | 30 January 1811 | 1814 | |
| 7 | John D'Oyly | 1 September 1814 | 1816 | Robert Brownrigg |
| 8 | Edward Tolfrey | 2 March 1816 | 1 December 1817 | |
| 9 | John William Carrington | 1 December 1817 | 1823 | |
| 10 | Henry Augustus Marshall | 1823 | 1841 | James Campbell |
| Auditor General, Accountant General and Controller of Revenue | ||||
| 11 | Henry Wright | 1 February 1841 | 1847 | James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie |
| 12 | Charles Justin MacCarthy | 28 May 1847 | 1851 | James Emerson Tennent |
| 13 | William Charles Gibson | 1 October 1851 | 1861 | George William Anderson |
| 14 | Richard Theodore Pennefather | 24 June 1861 | 1866 | Charles Justin MacCarthy |
| 15 | R. J. Callander | 3 January 1866 | 1870 | Hercules Robinson |
| 16 | John Douglas | 10 March 1870 | 1876 | |
| 17 | Colville Arthur Durell Barclay | 16 June 1876 | 1877 | William Henry Gregory |
| 18 | William Henry Ravenscroft | 23 May 1877 | 1890 | |
| 19 | George Thomas Michael O'Brien | 18 October 1890 | 1891 | Arthur Havelock |
| 20 | James Alexander Swettenham | 31 July 1891 | 1895 | |
| 21 | Sir William Thomas Taylor | 10 June 1895 | 1901 | |
| 22 | Francis Robert Ellis | 1 March 1902 | 1907 | Joseph West Ridgeway |
| Colonial Auditor | ||||
| 23 | Bernard Senior | 1 March 1907 | 1909 | Henry Arthur Blake |
| 24 | D. S. MacGregor | 8 April 1909 | 1914 | Henry Edward McCallum |
| 25 | Wilfred Wentworth Woods | 27 May 1914 | 1922 | Robert Chalmers |
| 26 | F. G. Morley | 1 March 1922 | 1931 | William Manning |
| 27 | Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke | 25 June 1931 | 1946 | Graeme Thomson |
| Auditor General | ||||
| 28 | E. Allen Smith | 16 February 1946 | 1953 | Henry Monck-Mason Moore |
| 29 | Lionel Arthur Weerasinghe | 2 March 1953 | 1963 | Herwald Ramsbotham |
| 30 | D. S. De Silva | 14 September 1963 | 1964 | William Gopallawa |
| 31 | B. L. W. Fernando | 21 February 1964 | 1969 | |
| 32 | D. R. Settinayake | 15 August 1969 | 1971 | |
| 33 | P. M. W. Wijayasuriya | 11 October 1971 | 1983 | |
| 34 | W. Gamini Epa | 2 May 1983 | 1993 | J. R. Jayewardene |
| 35 | S. M. Sabry | 26 January 1993 | 2000 | Ranasinghe Premadasa |
| 36 | Sarath Chandrasiri Mayadunne | 13 August 2000 | 2006 | Chandrika Kumaratunga |
| 37 | P. A. Pematilaka | 23 October 2006 | 2007 | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
| 38 | S. Swarnajothi | 3 January 2007 | August 2010 | |
| 39 | H. A. S. Samaraweera | 2010 | 2015 | |
| 40 | Gamini Wijesinghe | 27 November 2015 | April 2019 | Maithripala Sirisena |
| 41 | Chulantha Wickramaratne | 29 April 2019 | Present | |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "The Auditor General's Role and Responsibilities". auditorgeneral.gov.lk. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
- ^ "Former Auditor Generals". auditorgeneral.gov.lk. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
- ^ a b c "History of the Auditor General's Department" (PDF). auditorgeneral.gov.lk. Auditor General's Department. Retrieved 3 November 2017.