Ministry of Mass Media

The Ministry of Mass Media^[2] (Sinhala: ජනමාධ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය; Tamil: வெகுசன ஊடக அமைச்சு) is a cabinet ministry of the Government of Sri Lanka responsible for the implementation of the Post Office Ordinance and the Stamp Ordinance of Sri Lanka.^[3] Aside from broader policy formulation, this also includes the maintenance and expansion of the Sri Lanka postal service, the design, release, sale and archiving of the country's postage stamps, representing Sri Lanka's interests at the Universal Postal Union, the oversight of banking, insurance and wire transfer services provided at postal offices.^[3]

Ministry of Mass Media

‍ජනමාධ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය வெகுசன ஊடக அமைச்சு
Ministry overview
Formed	26 September 1947; 77 years ago (1947-09-26) (as Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications)
Preceding Ministry	Ministry of Communications and Works
Jurisdiction	Government of Sri Lanka
Headquarters	Floors 6 & 8, Postal Headquarters Building, 310 D. R. Wijewardena mawatha Colombo 10 6.927887°N 79.857956°E / 6.927887; 79.857956
Annual budget	LKR 12 billion (2016, recurrent) LKR 0.2 billion (2016, capital)
Minister responsible	Hon. Nalinda Jayatissa[1], Minister of Mass Media
Ministry executives	W.A. Chulananda Perera, Secretary Prof. Sunanda Maddumabandara, State Secretary
Child Ministry	Sri Lanka Post
Key documents	Post Office Ordinance, No. 11 of 1908 Stamp Ordinance, No. 22 of 1909
Website	www.media.gov.lk

The current Minister of Mass Media is Nalinda Jayatissa. The ministry's secretary is W.A. Chulananda Perera.^[4]

Ministers

Parties

  Sri Lanka Freedom Party   United National Party   Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna

Ministers of Posts

Name		Portrait	Party	Took office	Left office	Head of government		Ministerial title	Refs
	Mohamed Macan Markar			1931	1936			Minister of Communications and Works	[5]
	John Kotelawala			1936	1945				[6][7]
	C. Sittampalam		Independent	26 September 1947			D. S. Senanayake	Minister of Posts and Telecommunication	[8][9][10]
					1952		Dudley Senanayake		[10]
	V. Nalliah		United National Party	19 June 1952	12 July 1952			Minister of Posts and Information	[10]
	S. Natesan		United National Party	1952					[10][11]
					19 January 1956		John Kotelawala		[12]
	C. A. S. Marikar		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	12 April 1956			S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike	Minister of Posts, Broadcasting and Information	[13][14][15][16]
							W. Dahanayake
	Montague Jayawickrama		United National Party	23 March 1960	1960		Dudley Senanayake	Minister of Posts, Works and Power	[17]
	M. P. de Z. Sriwardene			28 May 1963			Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Minister of Public Works and Post	[18]
	J. A. Amaratunga		United National Party	1969	1970		Dudley Senanayake	Minister of Information and Broadcasting	[19]
	Chelliah Kumarasuriar			31 May 1970			Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Minister of Posts and Telecommunications	[20][21]
	Shelton Jayasinghe		United National Party	23 July 1977			J. R. Jayewardene		[22][23]
	D. B. Wijetunga		United National Party						[24]
	Alick Aluwihare		United National Party	18 February 1989	14 March 1991		Ranasinghe Premadasa		[25][26][27]
	A. M. S. Adhikari		United National Party	14 March 1991					[26][27]
	Mangala Samaraweera		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	19 August 1994			D. B. Wijetunga		[28][29]
	Nimal Siripala de Silva		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	19 October 2000			Chandrika Kumaratunga		[30][31]
	Indika Gunawardena		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	14 September 2001					[31][32]
	D. M. Jayaratne		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	10 April 2004				Minister of Post, Telecommunications and Udarata Development	[33][34][35]
				23 November 2005			Mahinda Rajapaksa	Minister of Posts and Telecommunication	[36]
	Rauff Hakeem		Sri Lanka Muslim Congress	28 January 2007	December 2007				[37][38][39][40][41]
	Jeewan Kumaranatunga		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	23 April 2010					[42][43][44]
				22 November 2010				Minister of Postal Services	[45][46]
	M. H. A. Haleem		United National Party	21 January 2015	17 August 2015		Maithripala Sirisena	Minister of Muslim Religious Affairs and Posts	[47][48][49]
				4 September 2015	22 November 2019			Minister of Posts, Postal Service and Muslim Affairs	[50][51][52]
	Bandula Gunawardane		Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	22 November 2019	17 January 2020		Gotabaya Rajapaksa	Minister of Information and Communication Technology	[53]
				17 January 2020				Minister of Information and Mass Media	[54]
				23 May 2022	Present			Minister of Mass Media

Secretaries

Posts Secretaries

Name	Took office	Left office	Title	Refs
Asoka Jayasekara	25 April 2010		Posts and Telecommunication Secretary	[55]
	22 November 2010		Postal Services Secretary	[56]
Abdul Majeed	19 January 2015		Muslim Religious Affairs and Posts Secretary	[57][58]
P. H. L. Wimalasiri Perera	8 September 2015		Postal, Postal Services and Muslim Religious Affairs Secretary	[59][60][61]
D. G. M. V. Hapuarachchi	1 August 2016	27 November 2019	Postal, Postal Services and Muslim Religious Affairs Secretary
W.A. Chulananda Perera	27 November 2019	Present	Information and Mass Media Secretary	[4][62]

See also

• Demographics of Sri Lanka
• Sri Lanka Post