Excise TUs say they don’t oppose naval officer becoming Departmental Head

Friday, 11 July 2025 02:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Tradition is to appoint experienced in-service officer or SLAS higher-up familiar with Govt. taxation policy as Commissioner General of Excise, one of three revenue-generating arms of Treasury

Amid the Government’s move to appoint a naval officer as the Head of the Excise Department, which is portrayed by sections within the force as a clear violation of the tradition, the Excise trade unions (TUs) yesterday denied opposition to this appointment saying “anybody” should be given a chance.

The Cabinet nod was received to appoint a new Chief to the Department of Excise last week, when the incumbent Commissioner General of Excise was scheduled to retire yesterday as he was turning 60 years of age on Wednesday.

Thus, the name of a senior naval officer as proposed by President Anura Kumara Disanayake as the Finance Minister, had been granted the green light by the Cabinet of Ministers and the new appointment was fixed for today (11).

The President’s move to nominate a naval officer to head one of the three crucial revenue-generating arms of the Treasury comes in the wake of the Excise TUs having made a written request to the former to consider appointing a seasoned in-service senior ranker to the position.

Outgoing Commissioner General of Excise U.L. Udaya Kumara Perera was granted a ceremonial sendoff with a parade at the Excise Headquarters in Rajagiriya on Wednesday, whilst all is scheduled to welcome Navy Commodore (Retd.) M.B.N.A. Premaratne as the new Excise Chief.

Sections within the Department said the Government’s move to appoint a naval officer is a clear violation of the Excise tradition in history, where either an experienced in-service officer that had risen to the rank of Commissioner or Additional Commissioner General would be considered to the Head post or a senior official from the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) is appointed.

Even in the recent past, officials from the SLAS, namely M.J. Gunasiri, Saman Jayasinghe, and U.L. Udaya Kumara Perera, had been appointed to the post, whilst Ariyadasa Bodaragama was appointed within the service.

When contacted, the Excise TUs said they wrote to President Disanayake to consider appointing senior in-service official Jayantha de Silva, who currently functions as the Assistant Excise Commissioner Western Province I, as the new Head of the Department. Responding to an online news item circulating yesterday that Excise TUs strongly oppose the new appointment, a spokesman from the Excise Trade Unions Collective said yesterday they shall not oppose this appointment of a naval officer as their head saying, “anybody should be given a chance to perform.”

However, the spokesperson did not rule out any setbacks that might arise in carrying out duties in the top revenue-generating wing of the country’s liquor and tobacco regulator when an inexperienced head is at the helm.

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