The amendment included provisions for the establishment of a system of Provincial Councils. The amendment inter alia incorporated the provisions of the Official Languages Act 1987 declaring Tamil as an official language of Sri Lanka.

Extracts from the 13th amendment to the Constitution
Article 18 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (hereinafter referred to as the “Constitution”) is hereby amended as follows:
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(2) Tamil shall also be an official language.
(3) English shall be the link language.
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Establishment of Provincial Councils
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(1) Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, a Provincial Council shall be established for every Province specified in the Eighth Schedule with effect from such date or dates as the President may appoint by Order published in the Gazette. Different dates may be appointed in respect of different Provinces.
(2) Every Provincial Council established under paragraph (1) shall be constituted upon the election of the members of such Council in accordance with the law relating to Provincial Council elections.
(3) Notwithstanding anything in the preceding provisions of this Article, Parliament may by, or under, any law provide for two or three adjoining Provinces to form one administrative unit with one elected Provincial Council, one Governor, one Chief Minister and one Board of Ministers and for the manner of determining whether such Provinces should continue to be administered as one administrative unit or whether each such Province should constitute a separate administrative unit with its own Provincial Council, and a separate Governor.
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Full text of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

Opinion
“The 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution gave effect to the devolution provisions of the controversial Indo-Lanka Accord, signed in July 1987 by President J.R. Jayewardene and the Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

“For the Indian government, the accord was the culmination of four years’ diplomatic manoeuvring in which a range of strategies were deployed to help secure a satisfactory solution to Sri Lanka’s armed conflict. It is clear that the Sri Lankan government was pressured by India into signing the accord. Once it had signed, however, the government rammed the 13th amendment through Parliament despite strong opposition from inside and outside the ruling United National Party (UNP).

“The 13th amendment sought to devolve power to newly instituted provincial councils throughout Sri Lanka. It contained three lists detailing respectively the areas of government devolved to the provinces (List I), the powers retained at the centre (the Reserved List — List II) and a Concurrent List (List III) of shared functions which were ultimately controlled by Parliament. The provincial councils were elected in November 1988, but a number of clauses in the amended constitution allowed for the blocking of substantive devolution.

“Continued centralization was strikingly symbolized by the conspicuous strength of the executive presidency, although in some areas, such as health and education, devolved powers could be reclaimed by simple ministerial directive. Perhaps the greatest obstacle to practical devolution was the first phrase of the Reserved List which provided for ‘National Policy on all Subjects and Functions’ to be determined by Parliament. This phrase completely undermined powers apparently devolved to the provinces. Since the inauguration of the 13th amendment, Parliament has used this rubric often to encroach into the provincial sphere.

“In identifying the reasons why the 13th amendment did not bring about a sustainable solution to the ethnic conflict, many commentators have faulted the lack of political will at the centre. However, it also seems clear that the constitutional provisions themselves were fundamentally flawed. Because of its significant shortcomings, it is not surprising that Tamil political parties rejected the 13th amendment and demanded more substantive devolution of power.” Rohan Edrisinha, Trying times: constitutional attempts to resolve armed conflict in Sri Lanka, August 1998.

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