The Hon. Chandana Sooriyaarachchi

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I move the following Adjournment Motion:

¶ 02 “Approximately 1.4 million serve in the Public and Provincial Public Services. Among them, around 125,000 graduates, including Development Officers and allied services, have served under the MN-4 salary scale (as per Circular 06/2006) since recruitment between 1994 and 2021. Yet, successive governments failed to grant them fundamental service rights.

¶ 03 They enter the Development Officer post at Class III under the MN-4 scale and, even after 20–25 years of service until retirement, remain in the same post and scale without structured promotions—unique among graduate cadres.

¶ 04 The 2016 government removed pension rights; about 75,000 recruited since 2016 lost full pension entitlement. The present Government restoring this right is a major victory providing relief.

¶ 05 However, due to issues in salary scale and promotions, Development Officers suffer severe professional dissatisfaction and distress.

¶ 06 Therefore, this Honourable House urges that immediate steps be taken to elevate the professional status of Development Officers and to resolve, expeditiously, their promotional pathways and other service issues.”

¶ 07 We raise this because a large number of public officers have long-standing professional issues, which this Government is addressing systematically. Especially, graduates recruited in 1994, 1999, 2005, 2008, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 face acute issues. For example, about 80 percent of those recruited in 1994 have retired, still on the same Class III MN-4 scale they entered with.

¶ 08 Unlike other cadres who have recognized promotion ladders—e.g., police officers retiring as Sergeant or above—Development Officers retire at the same post and scale. This must change. Since 2006 they have sought a recognized pathway from MN-4 to higher grades (e.g., MN-5/MN-7), but past administrations did not resolve it. We must now institute a structured promotion scheme without disadvantaging other services and ensure clear job roles rather than ad hoc assignment to counters, stores, cashier, or clerical work.

¶ 09 I urge scientific, fair, and accepted solutions that strengthen rights across the public service and particularly address Development Officers’ professional concerns.

¶ 10 Thank you.