Lankan Government To Amend RTI Bill as Per Supreme Court's Suggestions

Indian Express‎‎‎: Colombo: Wednesday, May 04, 2016.

The Sri Lankan government will accept the Supreme Court's "Determination" on the Right to Information Bill and make the amendments that the apex court has sought, senior government lawyers told Express here on Tuesday.

The court's Determination was conveyed to parliament on Tuesday by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya.

The court had said that if the amendments are not made,the bill will have to be passed by a two thirds majority plus a referendum on the issue of the independence of the judiciary.

On the other hand, if the amendments are made, the bill can be passed with a simple majority.

A government lawyer said that the government should have no difficulty in carrying out the four amendments sought, firstly because these are minor in nature and secondly because they were suggested by the Attorney General himself in court.

On the question of exposing the judiciary to the RTI, the government also feels that its independence has to be protected.

In the Bill, there is mention of protecting "Contempt of Court", but there is nothing explicit about protecting the judiciary as such.

The apex court felt that if any drastic changes are to be made in the status of the judiciary, a two thirds majority and a referendum would be necessary.

The RTI Bill was introduced in parliament on March 24 after cabinet approval.It was sent to all the nine Provicial Councils for their approval as per the constitution.Subsequently, it was sent to the Supreme Court for a Determination on its constitutionality. The last step is mandatory and the government is duty bound to go by the apex court's Determination.

Given the near unanimous support for the RTI Bill, government will get it passed soon after making the amenments in the draft, its lawyers said.

The Sri Lankan RTI Bill has taken a long time to , fructify. Initially, the war was an obstacle.Later, as President Mahinda Rajapaksa was consolidating his power, he declared that there would be no RTI Act so long as he was President.

But his rival and successor, Maithripla Sirisena, promised in his January 2015 Presidential election manifesto, that he would get an RTI Bill passed as one of his priorities.