A Grama Niladhari is a Sri Lankan public official appointed by the central government to carryout administrative duties in a grama niladhari division, which is a subunit of a divisional secretariat

Divisional Secretariats of Sri Lanka

The districts of the Sri Lanka are divided into administrative sub-units known as divisional secretariats. These were originally based on the feudal counties, the korales and ratas. They were formerly known as 'D.R.O. Divisions' after the 'Divisional Revenue Officer'. Later the D.R.O.s became...

. The duties of a grama niladharis includes the reporting of issuing of permits, gathering statistics, maintaining the voter registry and keeping the peace by settlement of personal disputes. They are responsible to keep track of criminal activity in their area and issue character certificates on behalf of residents when requested by them.

The post is one was created in the 1970s replacing the post of Village Headmen

Village head

The village headman or village chief is a central government post. The village headman is the person appointed to administer an area that is often a single village.The headman has several official duties in the village...

 (Arachi) that was created by the British during the colonial era.