Sri Lanka’s Right To Information Bill 2015 – Clearing Up Misconceptions And Recommending Revisions

Contrary to the popular perception of some therefore, the RTI Bill now in the public domain is not the end product of a new drafting process initiated by this Government in 2015. That exercise still remains to be engaged in, which is presumably why the call for public feedback was issued.

by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena and Venkatesh Nayak

Introduction
( February 28, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In giving necessary context to Sri Lanka’s draft Right to Information (RTI) law disseminated by the current Government in order to obtain feedback from citizens, a few matters need to be clarified. In substantial respects, this draft is the 2003/2004 Bill of the United National Front (UNF) administration. This is quite evident by the insertion of the Legislative Draftsman’s Department, LDO Number 23/2003 on the left hand side of the Bill.

Sri Lanka’s Right to Information Bill 2015 – Clearing Up Misconceptions and Recommending Revisions by Thavam Ratna