Chaminda Kularatne, attorney-at-law, will assume duties today as Deputy Secretary-General and Chief of Staff of Parliament. This position which was held by Tikiri Jayatilake became vacant due to his appointment as a High Court Judge.
Accordingly, with the approval of the Parliamentary Business Committee consisting of the Party Leaders of the Parliament, applications have been called by the Parliamentary Staff Advisory Committee for this position.
Kularatne has been selected for the position after a high-level interview panel chaired by the Speaker and consisting of the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader, the Leader of the House, the Chief Opposition Whip and Secretary-General of the Parliament, interviewed the applicants.
A selection of such a high-level position in the Parliament of Sri Lanka was previously made by a high-level interview panel in 1963. The position of Deputy Secretary-General (Clerk Assistant) of the Parliament which was held at that time by Berty Koswatte became vacant due to his appointment as the Secretary of the Senate.
Therefore, open applications had been called for an interview. Accordingly, an interview had been held by a panel consisting of R.S. Pelpola (the then Speaker), Dudley Senanayake (Opposition Leader), C.P. de Silva (Leader of the House) and Ralph Deraniyagala (Secretary-General). Sam Wijesinghe had been selected as the Deputy Secretary-General of the Parliament.
Kularatne has held many executive level administrative positions including Secretary to the Chief Government Whip of Parliament, Additional Secretary to the President, Additional Secretary to the Prime Minister, Additional Secretary to the Opposition Leader, Minister Counsellor at the Sri Lanka High Commission in London, Senior Assistant Secretary to the President and Assistant Secretary to the President.
He is a senior public servant with 20 years of national and international experience in Constitutional Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Proceedings, International Relations, Public Administration and Financial Regulations.
He holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB Sri Lanka) degree and is a Senior Lawyer and a Post Graduate Diploma holder in Business Management from the University of Colombo and the University of Buckinghamshire, UK. He is also a life member of the Sri Lanka Bar Association since 2005 and a member of the Bar Council since 2016.
He has held the directorship of the Board of Directors of Bank of Ceylon, Merchant Bank, MBSL Insurance Limited, Grand Oriental Hotel (GOH), Maganeguma Emulsion Private Limited and Colombo Financial City Founding Ltd., including in many Government institutions.
Furthermore, he was the first South Asian diplomat to represent the Executive Council of the Consular Officers Association which is the oldest association of diplomats, when he served as a Minister Counsellor at the High Commission of Sri Lanka in London.
During that time, he maintained a good relationship with the United Kingdom Parliament (House of Commons), and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
