Sunday Times: Sri Lanka: Sunday,
January 29, 2017.
The Ministry
of Mass Media responsible for the implementation of the Right to Information
(RTI) Act this week gazetted the law to become operational across all public
authorities from next Friday (February 3), but for citizens to be able to practically
use it, the ministry must also gazette the rules on fees and appeals drafted by
the RTI Commissioners.
Under the
Act, provisions for establishing the RTI Commission and appointing Information
Officers come into effect at the same time as the Act is signed into law by the
Speaker (in this case, August 4, 2016). However, the date from which a citizen
can file an information request has to be gazetted by the Ministry of Mass
Media.
Last week,
February 3, 2017, was gazetted as this date. But for this to be effective, the
rules on fees and appeals, as well as the regulations, must also be gazetted by
the ministry. The former are drafted by the Commission, while the latter are
drawn up by the ministry in consultation with the Commission. Both have now
been passed on to the Ministry, the Sunday Times understands.
Meanwhile,
the Government this week submitted a supplementary estimate to Parliament
seeking the approval of the House to provide an additional sum of Rs 1.8
billion to cover the expenses of the President. Of this, Rs 3 million is to
meet the recurrent expenditure of the newly-established RTI Commission. Unlike
for other independent Commissions, the 2017 Budget did not contain a separate
line item for the RTI Commission.
Public
authorities across which RTI will become operational, include Government
ministries; a body or office created by the Constitution (including the offices
of the President and Prime Minister) or any written law or statute of a
provincial council; a local authority; a Government department; a public
corporation; any department, authority or institution established or created by
a provincial council; and all courts, tribunals and institutions that
administer justice.
The Act
covers all companies in which the State or a public corporation holds 25% or
otherwise, has a controlling interest. It also applies to organisations
carrying out a statutory or public function or service, under contract,
partnership, agreement or licence from the Government or its agencies or from a
local body, but only to the extent of activities covered by that statutory or
public function or service.
It extends to
non-governmental organisations that are substantially funded by the Government
or any department or other authority established or created by a provincial
council or by a foreign Government or international organisation, rendering a
service to the public, insofar as the information sought relates to the service
rendered to the public.
Its reach
includes higher educational institutions including private universities and
professional institutions and private educational institutions including
institutions offering vocational or technical education which are established,
recognised or licensed under any written law or funded, wholly or partly, by
the State or a public corporation or any statutory body established or created
by a statute of a provincial council;
Though there
are several exemptions relating to, among other things, national security based
on which information may be refused, the Act states that information even in
that respect “shall not be refused where the public interest in disclosing the
information outweighs the harm that would result from its disclosure”.
This definition
by the RTI Act of public authorities across a wide range of entities is one of
the reasons it has been ranked internationally as the 9th best RTI law in the
world. Unlike in India, no agencies are privileged or shut out from its
application.
The independent
RTI Commission is tasked with monitoring compliance of all public authorities
within the Act. It is also an appellate body to which complaints could be
filed, with the final appeal being to the Courts.
The
Commission is chaired by retired public servant Mahinda Gammanpila. Two
members–Attorney Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena (nominee of the Editors’ Guild of
Sri Lanka, the Newspaper Society and the Sri Lanka Press Institute with its
affiliates) and Attorney S.G. Punchihewa (civil society nominee) were made by
President Maithripala Sirisena on the recommendation of the Constitutional
Council with effect from October 1, 2016.
However, due
to initial nominations of the two remaining members of the five-member body,
posing problems (the nominees of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka and civil
society could not be appointed as Commissioners in terms of the Act), fresh
nominations had to be called for. The RTI Commission became operational,
therefore, only in the last week of December 2016, with the appointments of
retired President of the Court of Appeal A.W.A. Salam and social scientist
Selvy Thiruchandran.