• Claims violation of RTI Act by not responding to info request

Concluding that they have committed a serious violation of the relevant provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act by not responding to an information request, the RTI Commission warned of legal action against the Designated Officer of the Police Department under RTI Act (the Inspector General of Police [IGP]) and the Information Officer of Police, if they continue to ignore the said Act.

Through a request dated 21 April of this year (2023), journalist Tharindu Iranga Jayawardhana had requested the Police to provide him with information pertaining to action taken against two complaints that had been lodged with the Police Headquarters. The relevant complaints are about an incident of a protest organised by a group of journalists and lawyers at the Galle Face Green in Colombo on 10 October of last year (2022), being obstructed by a group of Police officers including Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Roshan Dias and Assistant Superintendent of Police Nalinda Dilruk. Since there had been no response to his request from the Information Officer, Jayawardhana had made an appeal to the Designated Officer under the RTI Act (IGP Chandana D. Wickramaratne). There had been no response from Wickramaratne too, and Jayawardhana had then filed an appeal to the RTI Commission over the matter.

Concluding the hearing of the relevant appeal, the Commission stated that both the Designated Officer and the Information Officer not responding to the information request amounts to a serious violation of the provisions of the RTI Act, and that such conduct could not be taken lightly at all. While the relevant provisions of the RTI Act clearly mention how the Information Officer and the Designated Officer should act, the Commission stated that it did not appear in this instance that they had acted as per such provisions.

As the Police had agreed to provide the information in question, the Commission, in its verdict, had ordered Wickramaratne and the Information Officer, SSP Lanka Rajini to provide them by Tuesday (22). However, Jayawardhana told The Daily Morning that he had requested the Commission to initiate relevant action against the Police under the particular legal provisions as they (Police) had not complied with the order as of yesterday (23).

Several appeals have been filed to the Commission against the Police in the past few months, alleging that the Police is not responding to information requests on time. After hearing most such appeals, the Commission issued orders against the Police, and warned of legal actions.