North Eastern Province, Sri Lanka

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The North Eastern Province of Sri Lanka was an administrative unit created following the merger of the Northern Province and the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka into a single entity in 1987. The merging of the two provinces was declared invalid in 2006 and they were separated back into two provinces following protests from a number of groups.

[edit] History

The North Eastern Province was a temporary entity formed in 1987 as part of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord signed between Rajiv Gandhi and Junius Richard Jayewardene. The first chief minister of the NP was Varatharaja Perumal, an ex-lecturer of the Jaffna University Economics Department. It was divided into the 8 districts the original original Northern and Eastern Provinces comprised.

The governors of the NP were mostly retired Army officers. The only civilian governor was former actor Gamini Fonseka. Jaffna was the capital of the province, and the location of the Provincial Government and Provincial Departments.

On October 16, 2006 the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ruled that the merging of the two provinces was not in keeping with the constitution of the country and ordered they separated into two provinces again.[1][2]