তথ্য অধিকার আইন

The Daily Star, Tuesday Mar 14, 2023

Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz

In recent years, our neighbour Sri Lanka has weathered difficult times – economically, politically, and socially – but its right to information (RTI) regime survived and even thrived. We have cited critical RTI decisions from the country in these columns in the past. We are pleased to now update this with a story of exemplary value. This case shows the vast potential of RTI law to promote transparency in an important branch of democracy – the parliament.

RTI requests that are initially denied by the authorities concerned usually get resolved through the intervention of the Information Commission or a similar dispute-resolving body. However, if a party feels aggrieved by a decision of the Information Commission, it may appeal to a higher court for a ruling on the contested issues. In our story, a decision of the Right to Information Commission of Sri Lanka was challenged at the Court of Appeal, which delivered its judgment just a few weeks ago on February 28.Read More