Dominion of Ceylon February 1948, with an amended constitution taking effect on the same date. Independence was granted under the Ceylon Independence Act 1947. Military treaties with the United Kingdom preserved intact British air and sea bases in the country; British officers also continued to fill most of the upper ranks of the Ceylon Army. Don Senanayake became the first Prime Minister of Ceylon. Later in 1948, when Ceylon applied for United Nations membership, the Soviet Union vetoed the application. This was partly because the Soviet Union believed that the Ceylon was only nominally independent, and the British still exercised control over it
Dominion of Ceylon and an independent foreign policy as part of the non-aligned movement. In 1948, when Ceylon achieved independence from the United Kingdom, the Governor was replaced with a Governor-General. The Governor-General was responsible not to London, but to the monarch of Ceylon, the local government, and the local parliament. The role was generally ceremonial, however it did come with the 'reserve powers' of the Crown which allowed the Governor General for example to dismiss the Prime Minister (with power such as this, the Governor General had to act as a responsible non political 'referee' of the government, using the national constitution