Sri Lanka 1978 Constitution (reviewed 2015)

APPENDIX II. Land and Land Settlement

State land shall continue to vest in the Republic and may be disposed of in accordance with Article 33(d) and written law governing this matter.

Subject as aforesaid, land shall be Provincial Council Subject, subject to the following special provisions:–

1. State land –
   1. State land required for the purposes of the Government in a Province, in respect of a reserved or concurrent subject may be utilised by the Government in accordance with the laws governing the matter. The Government shall consult the relevant Provincial Council with regard to the utilisation of such land in respect of such subject.
   2. Government shall make available to every Provincial Council State land within the Province required by such Council for a Provincial Council subject. The Provincial Council shall administer, control and utilise such State land, in accordance with the laws and statutes governing the matter.
   3. Alienation or disposition of the State land within a Province to any citizen or to any organisation shall be by the President, on the advice of the relevant Provincial Council, in accordance with the laws governing the matter.
2. Inter-Provincial Irrigation and Land Development Projects.
   1. Such projects would comprise irrigation and land development schemes –
      1. within the Province initiated by the State and which utilize water from rivers flowing through more than one Province; a Provincial Council however, may also initiate irrigation and land development schemes within its Province utilizing water from such rivers;
      2. within the Province which utilize water through diversions from water systems from outside the Province; and
      3. all schemes where the command area falls within two or more Provinces such as the Mahaweli Development Project.
   2. These projects will be the responsibility of the Government of Sri Lanka.
   3. The principles and criteria regarding the size of holdings of agricultural and homestead lands arising out of these projects will be determined by the Government of Sri Lanka in consultation with the Provincial Councils.
   4. The selection of allottees for such lands will be determined by the Government of Sri Lanka having regard to settler selection criteria including degree of landlessness, income level, size of family and agricultural background of the applicants. The actual application of these principles, selection of allottees and other incidental matters connected thereto will be within the powers of the Provincial Councils.
   5. The distribution of all allotments of such land in such projects will be on the basis of national ethnic ratio. In the distribution of allotments according to such ratios, priority will be given to persons who are displaced by the project, landless of the District in which the project is situated and thereafter the landless of the Province.
   6. Where the members of any community do not, or are unable to take their entitlements of allotments from any such project, they would be entitled to receive an equivalent number of allotments in another Inter-Provincial Irrigation or Land Development Scheme. This unused quota should be utilized within a given time-frame.
   7. The distribution of allotments in such projects on the basis of the aforesaid principles would be done as far as possible so as not to disturb very significantly the demographic pattern of the Province and in accordance with the principle of ensuring community cohesiveness in human settlements.
   8. The administration and management of such projects will be done by the Government of Sri Lanka.
3. National Land Commission.
   1. The Government of Sri Lanka shall establish a National Land Commission which would be responsible for the formulation of national policy with regard to the use of State land. This Commission will include representatives of all Provincial Councils in the Island.
   2. The National Land Commission will have a Technical Secretariat representing all the relevant disciplines required to evaluate the physical as well as the socioeconomic factors that are relevant to natural resources management.
   3. National policy on land use will be based on technical aspects (not on political or communal aspects), and the Commission will lay down general norms in regard to the use of land, having regard to soil, climate, rainfall, soil erosion, forest cover, environmental factors, economic viability, &c.
   4. In the exercise of the powers devolved on them, the powers shall be exercised by the Provincial Councils having due regard to the national policy formulated by the National Land Commission.