House of Representatives (Ceylon)

House of Representatives
Dominion of Ceylon
Type
Type	Lower house
History
Established	1947
Disbanded	1972
Preceded by	State Council of Ceylon
Succeeded by	National State Assembly
Seats	101 (1947-1960) 157 (1960-1972)
Elections
Last election	Ceylonese parliamentary election, 1970
Meeting place

The State Council building in Galle Face Green, Colombo. The building was used by the State Council's successors (the House of Representatives, National State Assembly, and Parliament of Sri Lanka) until 1982. Today it is known as the Old Parliament Building and houses the Presidential Secretariat.

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The House of Representatives was the lower chamber of the parliament of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Constitution. The House was housed in the old State Council building in Galle Face Green, Colombo and met for the first time on 14 October 1947. The First Republican Constitution of Sri Lanka, adopted on 22 May 1972, replaced the House of Representatives (and Parliament of Ceylon) with the unicameral National State Assembly.

Membership

The House of Representatives initially consisted of 101 members, of whom 95 were elected by the electors of the 89 electoral districts and six appointed by the Governor-General. The members were known as "Members of Parliament". The six appointed members represented important interests which were not represented or inadequately represented in the House.

The fourth amendment to the Soulbury Constitution increased the number of members to 157 (151 elected from 145 electoral districts and six appointed).

Electoral districts

The initial 89 electoral districts consisted of 84 single-member districts, four two-member districts (Ambalangoda-Balapitiya, Badulla, Balangoda and Kadugannawa) and one three-member district (Colombo Central). From March 1960 there were 145 electoral districts consisting of 140 single-member districts, four two-member districts (Akurana, Batticaloa, Colombo South and Mutur) and one three-member district (Colombo Central).

Speakers

Main article: Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka

Alfred Francis Molamure (1947–51)^[1]
Albert F. Peries (1951–56)^[1]
H. S. Ismail (1956–59)^[1]
T. B. Subasinghe (1960)^[1]
R. S. Pelpola (1960–64)^[1]
Hugh Fernando (1964)^[1]
Albert F. Peries (1965–67)^[1]
Shirley Corea (1967–70)^[1]
Stanley Tillekeratne (1970–72)^[1]

Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees

R. A. de Mel (1947–48)^[2]
H. W. Amarasuriya (1948)^[2]
Albert F. Peries (1948–51)^[2]
H. S. Ismail (1951–56)^[2]
Piyasena Tennakoon (1956–58)^[2]
R. S. Pelpola (1958–60)^[2]
Hugh Fernando (1960–64)^[2]
D. A. Rajapaksa (1964)^[2]
Shirley Corea (1965–67)^[2]
Razik Fareed (1967–68)^[2]
Murugesu Sivasithamparam (1968–70)^[2]
I. A. Cader (1970–72)^[2]

References

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Speakers". Handbook of Parliament. Parliament of Sri Lanka.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees". Handbook of Parliament. Parliament of Sri Lanka.

Bibliography

"CEYLON (CONSTITUTION) ORDER IN COUNCIL". LawNet, Government of Sri Lanka.
"CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS SINCE INDEPENDENCE". The Official Website of the Government of Sri Lanka.
Rajasingham, K. T. "Chapter 11: On the threshold of freedom". SRI LANKA: THE UNTOLD STORY.
"First election on party basis". Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 4 March 2007.

External links

Parliament of Sri Lanka

Parliament of Sri Lanka

Members

Current members	By length of service Youngest members Longest-serving members ever

Women and minority members	Sri Lankan Tamil members Sri Lankan Moor members Other minority members Lady members

Leaders

Parliament Secretariat

Secretariat leaders	Secretaries-General (list) Deputy Secretary General (list) Assistant Secretary General (list)

Departments	Serjeant-at-Arms Administration Legislative Services Finance and Supplies Hansard Co-ordinating Engineer Catering and Housekeeping Information Systems and Management

Powers,
procedure
and customs

Powers	Legislative Power of the Sri Lankan Parliament

Committees	Selection House Standing Orders Parliamentary Business Public Accounts Public Enterprises Privileges Public Petitions

Items	Mace Chair Bar

History

History of Parliament of Sri Lanka

Building of Parliament

Sri Lankan Parliament Building

Miscellaneous

Historic Sri Lankan legislature
Parliaments
Districts

Website: Parliament of Sri Lanka

Legislatures of modern Sri Lanka

Website: Parliament of Sri Lanka

British Ceylon	Legislative Council of Ceylon (1833 - 1931) State Council of Ceylon (1931 - 1947)

Dominion of Ceylon	Parliament of Ceylon (1947 - 1972)¹

Sri Lanka	National State Assembly (1972 - 1978) Parliament of Sri Lanka (1978 - Present)

See also	Colebrooke-Cameron Commission (1829) Donoughmore Commission (Donoughmore Constitution) (1931 - 1947) Soulbury Commission (1944) Republic Constitution

¹ Composed of the Senate and House of Representatives

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