The Sunday Times: Sri Lanka: Sunday, June 17, 2018.
Sri Lankan Airlines top management’s salaries,
which have been shrouded in secrecy so far, should be released to the Airline
Pilots’ Guild of Sri Lanka (APGSL), the Right to Information Commission (RTIC)
has ruled.
The Commission has also ordered the national
carrier to disclose the cost of flying training met by the company on behalf of
Suren Ratwatte, its former Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In addition the
Commission has called for the release of all agreements entered into for the
wet lease of its A330 aircraft to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). And it directed the
divulging of information related to the rental of several A350 airbuses from AerCap and subsequent cancellation of those leases as the
matter is now concluded.
However, the RTI Commission upheld Sri Lankan’s
decision to withhold information related to the cancellation of purchase of
aircraft from Airbus SAS as the negotiations are still ongoing. But all minutes
and board papers pertinent to the matter (a list was given) were ordered to be
released subject to any redaction that the public authority may establish in
law as necessary regarding commercial confidence or excluded as coming within
the ambit of information given by a third party which was treated as
confidential at the time. The RTIC will scrutinise whether these redactions are
justified in law.
Sri Lankan had cited confidentiality clauses with
PIA and AerCap to block the release of those agreements. The RTIC order,
however, was that a confidentiality clause by itself could not prevent
information disclosure after the contract or agreement had been awarded and
where the accountability of public funds and the transparency of the public
authority are in issue.
Where the cancellation of the lease agreements
with AerCap is concerned, the fact that “great financial losses” had been
incurred by a public authority which is being maintained as an ongoing
enterprise by the State coffers “cannot be casually swept aside by this
Commission in evaluating information disclosure in terms of the RTI Act in this
Appeal”. There is, the RTIC observed, a strong public interest towards
disclosure in matters concerning public policy and the public purse.
A similar direction was given regarding all
reports by consultant firms employed by the airline. This includes partial and
full restructuring plans produced by international aviation advisor Nyras
subject to redaction on the basis of commercial confidence or confidential
information by a third party.
SriLankan Airlines was instructed to report back
to the Commission by July 3, 2018, with regards to the status of adherence to the order. Both parties will
appear before the RTIC again on that date.
The RTIC order brings to a close a process that
first started in June 2017 when the APGSL filed a request under RTI for the salaries, allowances and
other benefits of the CEO, Head of Human Resources and the Chief Commercial
Officer of Sri Lankan.
The union wanted all correspondence and
information, including profits, losses and damages, related to PIA’s entry into
a lease agreement with Sri Lankan and the subsequent termination of that
contract; and information related to the cancellation of orders for Airbus A350s from Airbus SAS. It also asked for all information related to the cost of
personal flying training for the A320 jet conversion borne by Sri Lankan Airlines for CEO Ratwatte.
After the carrier’s information and designation
officers refused the request citing exemptions, the APGSL lodged an appeal with
the RTIC in September 2017.
Later, Sri Lankan raised a preliminary objection that it
was not subjected to the jurisdiction of the RTI Act. This was dismissed by the
Commission earlier this year, and the order was accepted by Sri Lankan.
In its order on the merits, the Commission
observes that the central focus in the Right to Information Act given to
transparency and accountability in public authorities is clear. “In that
regard, it may be said that the preamble of Sri Lanka’s RTI Act even more
unambiguously underpins the principle of maximum disclosure, subject to
narrowly defined exceptions that must also yield to the public interest
override,” it says.
“It is manifest, therefore, that, where the public
purse is concerned, the alleged financial irregularities of a particular public
authority are under scrutiny in an appeal before us, this Commission will be
particularly watchful of the public interest,” it holds.
The Commission ordered the release of information
related to salaries, benefits and the pilot training cost of the CEO saying
that “this is, by its very definition, information that directly relates to the
financial accountability and transparency of the public authority in the
expenditure of public funds”.
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