{"id":233820,"date":"2023-09-02T12:24:48","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T06:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=233820"},"modified":"2023-09-03T19:02:59","modified_gmt":"2023-09-03T13:32:59","slug":"basl-comes-within-the-right-to-information-act-rti-commission-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-comes-within-the-right-to-information-act-rti-commission-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"BASL Comes Within The Right To Information Act, RTI Commission Rules\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\">The <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Right+to+Information+Commission\">Right to Information Commission<\/a><\/span> of Sri Lanka (RTIC) has declined to accept the position of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=BASL\">BASL<\/a><\/span>) that data on inquiries into complaints against attorneys-at-law is \u2018confidential\u2019.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_151819\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-151819\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-151819\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Saliya-Pieris--150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Saliya-Pieris--150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Saliya-Pieris--50x50.jpg 50w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Saliya-Pieris-.jpg 285w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-151819\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former BASL President Saliya Pieris PC<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"p2\">In a ruling handed down this Tuesday (29<span class=\"s1\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span> August 2023), the Commission directed the BASL to release the information asked by a citizen, Kamal Vithanage, including procedures adopted by BASL in respect of disciplinary inquiries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The five member Commission remarked that, principles of transparency and accountability relate to the BASL in as much as these same principles underline the conducting of public activities by the BASL, including conferences and seminars in furtherance of promoting and fostering the Rule of Law.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The position of the BASL that its Constitution furnished only to the Commission during the hearings of the appeal on the basis of \u2018Strict Confidentiality\u2019 by a formal letter of the BASL President at the time, <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Saliya+Pieris\">Saliya Pieris<\/a><\/span>, PC, was noted to be unacceptable.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">\u2018We fail to understand the rationale on which the Constitution of the respondent, a key professional body in Sri Lanka and the procedures that it adopts in regard to disciplining its members can be construed as \u2018Strictly Confidential,\u2019 the Commission said. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The RTI Commission further observed that, \u2018In this appeal, the appellant is requesting what may legitimately be referred to as \u2018routine\u2019 information; viz, firstly, the action taken by the respondent in regard to several complaints filed by him as detailed thereto including the expedition of complaints categorized as \u2018serious\u2019 and secondly, statistical data regarding complaints\/petitions received by the respondent against attorneys-at-law during 2011- 2020\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Considering the same, it was concluded that \u2018considerations of secrecy\u2019 do not apply to such information but \u2018rather this is information that may be proactively disclosed by the respondent in the public interest\u2019. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The argument of Counsel for the BASL before the Commission that, the BASL functions purely for the \u2018benefit\u2019 of its members, on account of it being a \u2018voluntary\u2019 organization of attorney and that an attorney-at-law is not mandatorily required to be a member of the respondent unlike the case in other countries and that the BASL as an entity, is distinct from individual attorneys-at-law who enter the profession, was dismissed by the RTI Commission.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">It was ruled that BASL came within the definition of Article 43 (i) of the RTI Act on the basis of<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>direct\/indirect \u2018material support\u2019 that it recieved from international organizations.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The Commission also decided that, the information requested relates \u2018to a service that is rendered to the public\u2019 and which is \u2018important in the public interest\u2019 with no bar to release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The BASL has been given time till 29<span class=\"s1\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span> September 2023 to release the information with the Commission stating that, after the deadline, its Director General will be instructed to commence proceedings in the Magistrate\u2019s Court for non-compliance to the Commission order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":233821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BASL Comes Within The Right To Information Act, RTI Commission Rules\u00a0 - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/basl-comes-within-the-right-to-information-act-rti-commission-rules\/\" 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