Police Powers for the Provinces
The appointment of N Shankar, the only Tamil-speaking official in the police top brass as the Senior DIG for the Eastern Province should go some way in meeting the demand on the power-devolution front. President Mahinda Rajapakse has set a ball rolling, and he too knows obviously that it cannot be stopped.
The appointment has also highlighted the lacuna of the past decades. There are no more Tamil-speaking police officials in that rank. If and when the promised elections are held in the Northern Province, Colombo would not have anyone to spare as a Tamil-speaking Senior DIG, for appointment, likewise.
It is also not impossible to visualise a scenario in which the Chief Ministers of other Provinces demand that the respective Senior DIGs too report to them. As the current Chair of the Council of Chief Ministers, S Chandrakanthan of the Eastern Province cannot support it. It would not end there. A time may come, sooner or later, when there could be a clash of jurisdiction between the Centre and the Province(s). There could also be impatience for change at the level of the political leadership in the Eastern Province and the bureaucratic hierarchy, both in Trincomalee and at Colombo.
Read more...
http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=31703
The appointment has also highlighted the lacuna of the past decades. There are no more Tamil-speaking police officials in that rank. If and when the promised elections are held in the Northern Province, Colombo would not have anyone to spare as a Tamil-speaking Senior DIG, for appointment, likewise.
It is also not impossible to visualise a scenario in which the Chief Ministers of other Provinces demand that the respective Senior DIGs too report to them. As the current Chair of the Council of Chief Ministers, S Chandrakanthan of the Eastern Province cannot support it. It would not end there. A time may come, sooner or later, when there could be a clash of jurisdiction between the Centre and the Province(s). There could also be impatience for change at the level of the political leadership in the Eastern Province and the bureaucratic hierarchy, both in Trincomalee and at Colombo.
Read more...
http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=31703
