Devolution of Police Powers: A Guide for Decision-makers

Abstract

In 1987, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was passed in order to devolve powers to Provincial Councils, as a step towards solving the ethnic conflict. The scheme of devolution under the 13th Amendment sought to divide the exercise of legislative and executive powers of the government between the central and provincial governments. To this end, the constitutional amendment created three lists, namely the Provincial Council List, the Reserved List and the Concurrent List, among which a governmental subjects and functions have been divided.

Legislative powers over police and public order have been included in the Provincial Council List, which is the list of areas which fall within the purview of the Provincial Councils. Therefore, under the 13th Amendment, police powers have been devolved to provincial governments. This constitutional amendment has been the subjectof much debate from the time it was introduced and despite a lapse of twenty five years since it was passed, some of the significant proposals for devolution, i.e. devolution of land and police powers, are yet to be implemented. The reluctance to implement these constitutional provisions is often characterised as being based on fears of secessionist tendencies arising again in the North and East, by allowing these provincial governments to have control over a force which could potentially supplement these tendencies. In order to assess the reasonableness or otherwise of these fears as a causal factor for non implementation of the said constitutionally mandated devolution, it is necessary to appreciate the actual extent of devolution of police powers anticipated under the 13th Amendment. In this context, this guide seeks to provide a clear and comprehensive account of administrative and institutional aspects of devolving police powers in Sri Lanka and the extent of devolution envisaged by the 13th Amendment. The study also provides some relevant comparative insights into the position of two Commonwealth.