Measures to amend service minutes and recruiting procedures

Uditha KUMARASINGHE and Irangika RANGE

Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama told Parliament yesterday that action has been taken to amend the service minutes and recruiting procedures of around 2,700 services in the public sector.

"Under the 6/2006 Circular, the salary revision and promotion procedure will be amended," he said.

The Minister said workshops and meetings with the National Salaries and Cadres Commission were held for this purpose.

The Minister was responding to a special statement made by JVP Parliamentary Group Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

Dr. Amunugama said the services that come under the Sri Lanka Administration Service such as engineering service, architecture service and executive service have agreed to these amendments.

The services come under the purview of other Ministries are yet to inform the Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry of their standpoint.

Since the Public Service Commission is not functioning, the Cabinet and Ministry Secretaries have been given powers to decide on the promoting Grade I Officers to the "Supra Grade," he said.

Meanwhile, the Minister also said that there were over 4,500 vacancies in the public sector.

At the moment, these vacant posts are temporally handled by persons appointed on an acting basis.