{"id":198743,"date":"2019-02-09T16:54:37","date_gmt":"2019-02-09T11:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=198743"},"modified":"2019-02-09T17:13:40","modified_gmt":"2019-02-09T11:43:40","slug":"rti-commission-commences-public-sittings-and-hearing-of-appeals-in-provinces-driving-more-public-participation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rti-commission-commences-public-sittings-and-hearing-of-appeals-in-provinces-driving-more-public-participation\/","title":{"rendered":"RTI Commission Commences Public Sittings And Hearing Of Appeals In Provinces Driving More Public Participation"},"content":{"rendered":"
The\u00a0Right to Information<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Commission of Sri Lanka (RTIC) has announced that it has commenced public sittings and the hearing of appeals in provinces. Issuing a public Statement to mark two years of operationalizing RTI in the country, it stated that the RTIC held its first public sitting and hearing of appeals in Panama, Ampara in the Eastern Province on January 19 which was attended by the Government Agent, Ampara, Divisional Secretaries of Lahugala, Siyambalanduwa, Damana and Pothuvil along with their officers as well as large numbers of community activists in the province.<\/span><\/div>\n

The sessions were addressed by the Chairman,\u00a0Commissioners, the Director General as well as the Government Agent, Divisional Secretaries and community activists.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The discussions that were conducted in Sinhala and Tamil focused on the successes and challenges of the RTI process with villagers explaining how they had used the RTI Act to obtain relief for their communities. Obstacles to the obtaining of information such as delays in government offices, bureaucratic processes and hostile attitudes of some officials were also discussed in detail.<\/p>\n

The RTIC thereafter held appeal hearings in the province, concluding those appeals to the satisfaction of the parties.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The RTIC also held a soft launch of two trilingual publications of the Commission accessible on the website of the Commission (www.rticommission.lk). Volume One contains Orders of the Commission delivered during 2017-2018 with several significant principles, keywords and an Index of a broader
\nrange of Decisions.<\/p>\n

In delivering these Orders, the Commission has endeavored to maintain principles of equity between the Public Authority and the appellant while taking into consideration the fact that the greater weight of resources and power lies with the State rather than with an individual citizen. Volume Two contains Reflections on Sri Lanka\u2019s RTI Act and RTI regime written by\u00a0eminent contributors in the fields of law, media, the public service and academia.<\/p>\n

With Ampara being the first province selected to conduct a public sitting of the Commission, the next disticts targeted for consequent public sittings and appeal sessions are Hatton and
\nAngunukolapelessa to be held in the coming months. Selection of the districts has been with a view to targeting marginalised\/isolated\/war affected communities in Sri Lanka in order that citizens who have not yet been exposed to RTI will be able to understand the benefits of using the Act.<\/p>\n

The discussions have been planned in order that the RTIC acts as a facilitator in opening up dialogues between communities and government officers in regard to a co-operative and harmonious process in using the RTI Act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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