[toggle title=”What is the Right to Information Commission?”]<\/p>\n
The Right to Information Commission is established by the Act to ensure effective implementation of the Act. The Commission is a corporate entity which has legal personality. Therefore, it can sue and be sued.<\/p>\n
[\/toggle]<\/p>\n
[toggle title=”Is the Commission independent?”]<\/p>\n
YES.<\/strong> It is an independent Commission. Three of its members are named by nominations from the editors, publishers and media groups, from the Bar Association and from civil society groups sent to the Constitutional Council (CC). Two remaining members are selected by the CC from a public application process.<\/p>\n [\/toggle]<\/p>\n [toggle title=”\u00a0How does the Commission establish its\u00a0\u00a0 transparency?”]<\/p>\n The Commission will prepare and publish a report of all its activities at least once a year to ensure transparency. One copy of the report will be forwarded to the Parliament to be tabled for debate and another copy sent to the President. Two (02) weeks after the report is tabled in Parliament the Commission must keep a copy of the report at its office for the public to access it. Whenever possible, the Commission must publish a copy of the report on its website.<\/p>\n [\/toggle]<\/p>\n [toggle title=” What are the duties and functions of the\u00a0\u00a0 Commission? “]<\/p>\n The Commission will;<\/p>\n (a)\u00a0 monitor the performance and ensure Public Authorities duly discharge their duties;<\/p>\n (b)\u00a0 make recommendations for reform;<\/p>\n (c)\u00a0 issue guidelines based on reasonableness, to guide Public Authorities in setting fees under the Act;<\/p>\n (d)\u00a0 prescribe the circumstances in which an Information Officer can provide information without charging a fee;<\/p>\n (e)\u00a0 prescribe the fee Schedule;<\/p>\n (f)\u00a0 undertake training activities for public officials on the effective implementation of the Act;<\/p>\n (g)\u00a0 publicize the requirements and the rights of individuals under the Act; and<\/p>\n (h)\u00a0 issue guidelines for Public Authorities for the proper management of records.<\/p>\n [\/toggle]<\/p>\n [toggle title=” What powers does the Commission have? “]<\/p>\n The Commission has the powers;<\/p>\n (a)\u00a0 to hold inquiries and require any person to appear before the Commission;<\/p>\n (b)\u00a0 to question persons called before the Commission and request them to\u00a0 produce information they possess. If the information required is exempted from disclosure under the Act, then the Commission should examine such information in confidence;<\/p>\n (c)\u00a0 to inspect any information held by a Public Authority;<\/p>\n (d)\u00a0 to direct a Public Authority to provide information in a particular form;<\/p>\n (e)\u00a0 to direct a Public Authority to publish any information withheld by it;<\/p>\n (f)\u00a0 to hear and decide appeals; and<\/p>\n (g)\u00a0 to direct a Public Authority to reimburse fees charged from a citizen if the information was not provided in time.<\/p>\n The Commission has also the important power to directly prosecute offenders before the Magistrate\u2019s Court.<\/p>\n [\/toggle]<\/p>\n [toggle title=” How is the Commission financed?”]<\/p>\n The Commission has its own fund. The fund consists of any money the Commission is allocated by Parliament and donations, gifts or grants received by the Commission. When the Commission receives funds as gifts, donations or grants, the Commission is obligated to publicize the source of such funds and the purpose for which funds were given to the Commission. All expenses of the Commission will be paid out of this fund.<\/p>\n [\/toggle]<\/p>\n [toggle title=” \u00a0Will the finances of the Commission be\u00a0\u00a0 audited?”]<\/p>\n YES.<\/strong> The income and expenditure of the Commission are subject to financial audits. The financial year of the Commission will be from January to December in any year. The Commission has to ensure proper accounts are maintained reflecting all income and expenditure of the Commission.<\/p>\n The audit of the accounts of the Commission will be carried out in terms of the provisions of Article 154 of the Constitution which relates to the audit of the accounts of public corporations. Financial control and accounts of the Commission are subject to the provisions of the Finance Act, No. 38 of 1971 with relevant changes.<\/p>\n [\/toggle]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [toggle title=”What is the Right to Information Commission?”] The Right to Information Commission is established by the Act to ensure…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rtisrilanka.lk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/938"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rtisrilanka.lk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rtisrilanka.lk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rtisrilanka.lk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rtisrilanka.lk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rtisrilanka.lk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":940,"href":"https:\/\/rtisrilanka.lk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/938\/revisions\/940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rtisrilanka.lk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}