CO885-(11-12) — Page 494

414

ELEC

PECORD OFFICE

ཉ།

Reference →

NAMNA C.O.882/12

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE-REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NO1 10

| PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON

50

Engineers appointed to the permanent establishment will be permanently required, and that their appointment will in no way block the promotion of any Ceylonese engineers who could be expected to become qualified to hold similar posts before further vacancies occur in the Department. In the circumstances 1 regard the permanent appointment of these two officers as obviously necessary and justifiable, and I cannot accept the contention of the Acting Minister in regard to these appointments.

5. In his letter the Acting Minister raised a number of minor points with which Sir Graeme Thomson dealt fully in his covering despatch. I am entirely in accord with the views expressed by Sir Graeme Thomson, and I only propose to refer specially to two points. I agree that the proper constitutional course would be for the Minister to address any representations which he wishes to make to the Governor, and not direct to the Secretary of State, although it is of course open for Ministers (as for any member of the public) to address the Secretary of State provided he forwards his communication through the Governor in accordance with the usual practice. Further there is no obligation on the Governor to disclose to Ministers the nature of any con- fidential communications between himself and the Secretary of State.

I have, &c.,

P. CUNLIFFE-LISTER.

(6) Professor of Chemistry, University College-Terms of Appointment.

14327/33 [No. 1].

(No. 442.) SIR,

No. 31.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 7th August, 1933.)

[Answered by Nos, 33 and 34.7

Ceylon, 15th July, 1933.

I HAVE the honour to address you on the subject of an appointment to the post of Professor of Chemistry in the Ceylon University College, which has been rendered vacant by the retirement of Professor W. N. Rae.

2. The Council of the University College have recommended that Dr. J. P. C. Chandrasena. Lecturer in Chemistry at the College, should be appointed to the vacant post. Dr. Chandrasena has acted as Professor of Chemistry twice during the absence of Professor Rae on long leave. On both occasions he performed the duties of the professorship in an entirely satisfactory manner, and the Principal of the University College considers him fully qualified and entirely suitable for permanent appointment to the post. The Executive Committee for Education and the Public Services Com- mission concur in the proposed appointment. I accordingly enclose a copy of the Form P/2* filled in by Dr. Chandrasena (with the usual paper of particulars* of the post) and recommend that you should approve of his appointment.

3. I have also to ask for your approval of an alteration of the salary scale of the post. The existing scale of salary for all professorships at the University College is £800 1,150

The scale recommended by the recent Commission on Salaries and 40 & 50 Cadres in their interim report (Sessional Paper XII of 1932) for new entrants to the public services appointed to professorships at the University College in future is Rs. 9,000 12,000

while the University Commission which reported in 1928 recom- Rs. 300

Rs. 12,000-15,000 the scale

for the same posts (Sessional Paper IV of 1929). In Rs. 600 expressing their opinion that Dr. Chandrasena should be promoted to the post of Professor of Chemistry, the Executive Committee for Education have recommended (Rs. 9,000-12,000) that on his promotion to it the post should carry the salary scale Rs. 300 recommended by the Salaries and Cadres Commission.

* Not printed.

51

4. On receipt of the Executive Committee's recommendation the Financial Secretary addressed to the Minister for Education a letter in which he pointed out

Rs. 9,000—12,000 that the scale

had been recommended by the Salaries and Cadres Rs. 300 Commission for new entrants to the public services, whereas Dr. Chandrasena had served for 19 years under the Ceylon Government; that Dr. Chandrasena was already serving on a salary of Rs. 10,500 per annum (the rupee equivalent of the maximum of

£500 £700 the Lecturers' scale

00), so that if he were appointed Professor on the £25 scale which the Executive Committee proposed he would receive a scarcely appreciable immediate increase in emoluments in consideration of the greater responsibilities and more arduous duties which he would have to undertake, and would have the prospect of rising to a maximum salary only Rs. 1,500 per annum higher than his present salary; that the salaries to be drawn by officers promoted to higher posts ought to be fixed in accordance with the principle (enunciated in your despatch No. 620 of 14th November, 1932*) that no officer should be compelled to accept a position of greater responsibility without a reasonable increase of salary; and that although the existing salary scale of the post might in present circumstances be open to criticism as running to an unnecessarily high maximum, the scale recommended by the University Commission (Rs. 12,000-15,000)

would give Dr. Chandrasena no more than a reasonable increase

Rs. 600

of salary on promotion from the post of Lecturer to the more responsible post of the Professor of Chemistry. To this letter the Minister for Education replied that Executive Committee decided to adhere to its original decision."

5.

At this juncture the State Council passed the following resolution, upon which

I have reported in my despatch No. 237 of 8th April, 1933† :—

That in the case of promotion of an existing officer of the Public Service to a higher post other than normal promotion including promotion from class to class, the salary payable to such officer on promotion should be as fixed by the Board of Ministers on the recommendation of the Executive Committee or Officer of State concerned.'

Since I had already decided to recommend to you that you should agree to the procedure proposed in this resolution, in so far as it involved consultation with the Board of Ministers before the salary would be fixed by yourself, I considered that it would be advisable to put that procedure into effect provisionally at once, pending the receipt of your instructions, and I therefore authorized the Financial Secretary to refer to the Board of Ministers the question of the salary to be fixed for the post of Professor of Chemistry on Dr. Chandrasena's promotion to it. If it had been possible. to regard his promotion from the post of Lecturer to the post of Professor as "normal" promotion," reference to the Board of Ministers in terms of the resolution quoted above would not have been necessary. But professorships in the University College are not necessarily or even usually filled by the promotion of Lecturers already in the service of the Government; in fact, the majority of the Professors now in service at the University College were recruited direct to their present posts. Lecturers cannot therefore claim that they have a right to expect promotion to professorships in the ordinary course of their service. In seeking appointment to professorships they must normally expect to have to compete with candidates not only outside the University College but outside the public service altogether. I think it is clear that these circum- stances precluded me from regarding Dr. Chandrasena's promotion as "normal.

6 The

Chandrasena for promoting Dr. case

on the salary scale (Rs. 12,000-15,000)

recommended by the University Commission, in preference to Rs. 600 the lower scale proposed by the Executive Committee, was therefore presented to the Board of Ministers as it had previously been presented to the Executive Committee, but the reply received was that "the Board saw no reason to think that the salary for the post should be other than that recommended by the Executive Committee." thereupon instructed the Financial Secretary to lay before the Board an alternative proposal, namely, that the Board should agree to provide funds, as might be necessary. to enable me to place Dr. Chandrasena on the inaximum salary (Rs. 12,000) of the

* No. 18.

† No. 20.

I