Northern Governor accused of being high-headed and high-handed

Northern Province Governor Jeevan Thiyagarajah came under severe criticism by senior government officials in the province for his method of governance within such a short span since he took office.

Weeks ago, a group of secretaries to provincial ministries were transferred altogether. Some of those secretaries expressed concerns alleging the Governor who came from the Non-Government Organisations sector, was not aware of the limitations to his constitutional powers as the direct representative of the President.

"He could be the President's representative here, but he cannot issue arbitrary orders to us to work on his initiatives. Certainly, we can collaborate and support him, but we report back to the Ministry of Public Administration, not to the Governor," a senior official from the Provicial administration said on condition of anonymity.

Recently, a directive from the Governor's office was sent to all Grama Sevakas to carry out certain tasks undertaken by his office in addition to their existing tasks. A Co-Chair of District Coordination Committee of Jaffna reportedly took up the issue with the Presidential Secretariat recently, complaining of the high handedness in provincial governance and the role played by the Governor.