Auditor General Appointment: President to make fresh nomination – Presidential Secretariat
The Presidential Secretariat stated that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake would submit a fresh nomination for the post of Auditor General in the coming days, following the rejection of several earlier nominees by the Constitutional Council.
Article 153 of the Constitution provides that an AG, must be a qualified auditor, who shall be appointed by the President subject to the approval of the CC.
Following the retirement of Auditor General W.P.C. Wickramaratne, the President initially nominated H.T.P. Chandana, an audit officer at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, but the CC rejected the nomination. The next senior-most official at the NAO, Dharmapala Gammanpila, was then appointed Acting AG for six months. A subsequent nomination of Senior Deputy Auditor General L.S.I. Jayarathne to serve in an acting capacity was also rejected.
In total, the President’s recommendations for the post have been rejected three times since the retirement of the previous AG, leaving the position substantively vacant since April, 2025.
Several organisations, including the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) and Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chair Dr. Harsha de Silva, have urged the President to appoint an AG without further delay, warning the prolonged vacancy has disrupted the work of the NAO and undermined public financial oversight.
