Following the Presidential Secretariat agreement to release the final report of the special three-member committee headed by Supreme Court (SC) Judge Justice Vijith Malalgoda appointed by then-President and incumbent MP Maithripala Sirisena to investigate the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 2019, the Right to Information (RTI) Commission directed the Presidential Secretariat to release the report with a copy to the Commission before 9 February 2023.
Several parties, including Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and the Research Team of the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR), had made RTI requests to the Presidential Secretariat, seeking the said Committee’s report. However, the Presidential Secretariat had not released it, assigning various reasons, and an appeal had then been filed with the RTI Commission by Danushka Silva on behalf of the CSR.
When the appeal was taken up before the Commission previously, the CSR, through its representatives, had pointed out that the Presidential Secretariat has no ability to deny the release of the report under the RTI Act. The Commission had then ordered the Presidential Secretariat to inform the Commission of its decision regarding whether the report could be released or not under the RTI Act on 26 January.
Accordingly, an official of the Presidential Secretariat, who appeared before the Commission on 26 January, informed that the report could be released. The Commission directed the Presidential Secretariat that it be released before 9 February 2023, with a copy to the Commission.
The hearing of the appeal was conducted before RTI Commission Chairman, retired SC Judge Upali Abeyratne and RTI Commission members Attorneys Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena and Jagath Liyanaarachchi. CSR Director Fr. Rohan Silva, human rights activist Ruki Fernando, Manushika Cooray, Tharindu Jayawardena, and Dureksha Gayani appeared before the Commission for the appellant.
Soon after the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 21 April 2019, then-President Sirisena appointed a three-member committee headed by Justice Malalgoda to investigate the terror attacks and make the necessary recommendations. The other members of the Committee were former Inspector General of Police N.K. Illangakoon and former Law and Order Ministry Secretary Padmasiri Jayamanne. The final report of the Committee was handed over to Sirisena on 10 June 2019.