Daily-Sun.com: Bangladesh: Wednesday, 2nd
September 2026.
Information seekers have been left without effective redress against public offices denying access to information for the past two years, while a change in the economic code for information access fees has added a fresh layer of difficulty.
The Information Commission
has been without two commissioners and a chief commissioner since the fall of
the Awami League government, leaving complaints from information seekers
unheard.
They are now facing further harassment because banks are not accepting fees under the old economic code, while some public offices are refusing receipts generated using the new code.
The online A Challan system has also made fee payment difficult, with many users unable to find the information access fee option, creating further problems for those seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Liton Kumar Pramanik, public relations officer of the Information Commission, said 845 complaints had been received from information seekers as of 30 August.
“But there has been no hearing on the complaints since August 2024,” he said, leaving the grievances unresolved.
A public office RTI section official told the Daily Sun, “We are facing a problem as we are not notified by the Information Commission about the code change issue. Besides, many come to us with the allegation that banks are not receiving the code number.”
RTI applicants had faced the problem of a changed economic code for the information access fee for about a year, but the Information Commission had not informed RTI offices through any letter about the change.
As a result, banks sometimes refuse to accept the fee through the offline system, while RTI sections of public offices refuse to accept receipts generated through the online A Challan system.
Finance Division officials said the A Challan system is being maintained under the Strengthening Public Finance Management System project.
Information Commission Deputy Director (Administration and Finance) Healal Ahmed said many people had complained that they could not deposit the fee.
“Many people come to us with the complaints that they cannot deposit money. They allege that A Challan system keeps the economic code inaccessible to the public. We had once written to the ministry regarding the matter,” he said.
Saiful Masum, a Dhaka-based journalist and regular user of the right to information, said he had faced difficulties at banks while submitting the information access fee.
“I faced a problem in banks when submitting the information access fee. They are in a fix regarding which code to use. When I first deposited money using the new code, one public office denied receiving my deposit receipt,” he said.
He said the rate of information delivery had now declined.
Hamidul Islam Hillol, an RTI activist working at Media Resources Development Initiative, said the lack of accountability had discouraged information seekers.
“The RTI officers know there is no scope for getting redress regarding deprivation of information and they don’t have to face any accountability. As a result, the rate of information delivery has declined. As a result information seekers are getting demoralized to apply for information,” he said.
He added, “The government is not appointing the commissioners, which means that they don’t want to face public scrutiny through sharing the information. They don’t want transparency and accountability.”
Complex fee submission system
Information seekers have to deposit the access fee through the A Challan system, maintained under the Strengthening Public Financial Management Program to Enable Service Delivery Project.
RTI activists said they could not find the information access fee code on the website. Hillol said they had formally applied to the government to keep the code operative.
Programme Executive and Coordinator (Joint Secretary) of the SPFMS programme under the Finance Division Muhammad Anisuzzaman said this was not the case.
Zoabyer Ahamed, a junior consultant of the project, said confusion over the missing code arose because the system has two versions – one for official use and another for public use.
“When people search, they mostly get the official-purpose system,” he said.
“We run two versions for a challan; one is general and another training version. The training version is for official use has no access fee code, but when one searches a challan, the training version comes first. We know it; we are trying to ensure the code in the training version also. Google promotes the official version and we are trying to make the public version visible,” he said.
He said verification of identity through NID and birth registration had been disabled because checkers frequently attack the site.
“Anyone can go forward with just writing his name and an identification number,” he said.
Information seekers have been left without effective redress against public offices denying access to information for the past two years, while a change in the economic code for information access fees has added a fresh layer of difficulty.
They are now facing further harassment because banks are not accepting fees under the old economic code, while some public offices are refusing receipts generated using the new code.
The online A Challan system has also made fee payment difficult, with many users unable to find the information access fee option, creating further problems for those seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Liton Kumar Pramanik, public relations officer of the Information Commission, said 845 complaints had been received from information seekers as of 30 August.
“But there has been no hearing on the complaints since August 2024,” he said, leaving the grievances unresolved.
A public office RTI section official told the Daily Sun, “We are facing a problem as we are not notified by the Information Commission about the code change issue. Besides, many come to us with the allegation that banks are not receiving the code number.”
RTI applicants had faced the problem of a changed economic code for the information access fee for about a year, but the Information Commission had not informed RTI offices through any letter about the change.
As a result, banks sometimes refuse to accept the fee through the offline system, while RTI sections of public offices refuse to accept receipts generated through the online A Challan system.
Finance Division officials said the A Challan system is being maintained under the Strengthening Public Finance Management System project.
Information Commission Deputy Director (Administration and Finance) Healal Ahmed said many people had complained that they could not deposit the fee.
“Many people come to us with the complaints that they cannot deposit money. They allege that A Challan system keeps the economic code inaccessible to the public. We had once written to the ministry regarding the matter,” he said.
Saiful Masum, a Dhaka-based journalist and regular user of the right to information, said he had faced difficulties at banks while submitting the information access fee.
“I faced a problem in banks when submitting the information access fee. They are in a fix regarding which code to use. When I first deposited money using the new code, one public office denied receiving my deposit receipt,” he said.
He said the rate of information delivery had now declined.
Hamidul Islam Hillol, an RTI activist working at Media Resources Development Initiative, said the lack of accountability had discouraged information seekers.
“The RTI officers know there is no scope for getting redress regarding deprivation of information and they don’t have to face any accountability. As a result, the rate of information delivery has declined. As a result information seekers are getting demoralized to apply for information,” he said.
He added, “The government is not appointing the commissioners, which means that they don’t want to face public scrutiny through sharing the information. They don’t want transparency and accountability.”
Complex fee submission system
Information seekers have to deposit the access fee through the A Challan system, maintained under the Strengthening Public Financial Management Program to Enable Service Delivery Project.
RTI activists said they could not find the information access fee code on the website. Hillol said they had formally applied to the government to keep the code operative.
Programme Executive and Coordinator (Joint Secretary) of the SPFMS programme under the Finance Division Muhammad Anisuzzaman said this was not the case.
Zoabyer Ahamed, a junior consultant of the project, said confusion over the missing code arose because the system has two versions – one for official use and another for public use.
“When people search, they mostly get the official-purpose system,” he said.
“We run two versions for a challan; one is general and another training version. The training version is for official use has no access fee code, but when one searches a challan, the training version comes first. We know it; we are trying to ensure the code in the training version also. Google promotes the official version and we are trying to make the public version visible,” he said.
He said verification of identity through NID and birth registration had been disabled because checkers frequently attack the site.
“Anyone can go forward with just writing his name and an identification number,” he said.
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