![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Speaker-Dr.-Jagath-Wickramaratne.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe NPP dominated Constitutional Council (CC) has refused to disclose the names of nominees and nominating organisations to a vacancy arising to the Right to Information Commission (RTIC) following interviews held on March 16th 2026, Colombo Telegraph learns.<\/p>\n
Information requests to obtain the information filed by several journalists under the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) had been refused by the CC. Similar information had been released previously when appointments were made to the RTIC in the period of Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe as Presidents.<\/p>\n
The CC comprises the Speaker (Chairman), the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition as ex officio members. Minister Bimal Ratnayake represents President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on the CC while five members are nominated jointly by the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n
Three members are supposed to represent \u2018civil society\u2019 with the current \u2018civil society\u2019 members being former Secretary, Ministry of Buddha Sasana Ranjith Ariyaratne, law teacher Wasantha Seneviratne and former Presidential Secretary Austin Fernando.<\/p>\n
Political party affiliations linked to the NPP of at least two of the three civil society members have been alleged.<\/p>\n
The remaining two members on joint nomination of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition are parliamentarians Ajith Perera of the Opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) and Aboobucker Athambawa (NPP, nominated by the Government majority in Parliament).<\/p>\n
Parliamentarian S Sritharan has been nominated as the representative of minority parties. Earlier, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Illankai Thamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) had demanded MP S. Sritharan resign from the Constitutional Council (CC) following accusations that he continuously voted in favor of government-aligned decisions.<\/p>\n
The refusal of the CC to disclose the names of nominees and nominating organisations comes in the background of controversy over the selection process in filling the vacancy to the RTIC earlier this year. Under the RTI Act, the CC has to consider nominations from the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), media and civil society for three seats on the RTIC. The remaining seat and the selection of the Chairman is at the discretion of the Government\/President.<\/p>\n
The slot for the nominee of the BASL (prominent public interest attorney Ms Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena) and the slot for media\/editors (former Court of Appeal Justice D.N. Samarakoon) were filled at that time.<\/p>\n
Mid last year, President Dissanayake had appointed senior journalist Mr Daya Lankapura as Chairman of the RTIC last year after a furore over the Government\u2019s attempts to appoint a politically tainted former Secretary, Ministry of Media, Nimal Bopage as Chairman. Former Vice Principal of Zahira College Mr N.M. Nahiya had also been appointed to the RTIC during former President Ranil Wickremesinghe\u2019s time.<\/p>\n
The vacancy considered by the CC in March 2026 had been the nominee of civil society as the remaining seat of the five members RTIC.<\/p>\n
Colombo Telegraph understands that three nominees had been put forward by civil society, namely senior academic Prof Arjuna Parakrama, former Secretary to the Ministry of Education, Mr Sunil Hettiarachchi and artist Ms Vasuki Jeyashankar. The CC had forwarded Mr Jeyashankar\u2019s name to the President for appointment later in March 2026. Her appointment to the RTIC was made earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Colombo Telegraph was told by civil society organisations which had nominated Prof Parakrama that he had been considered to be \u2018too independent\u2019 to be recommended. It is not known as to what position had been taken by the Leader of the Opposition, SJB party leader Sajith Premadasa or his party member, attorney Ajith Perera.<\/p>\n
Prof Parakrama had been among those opposing the proposed education reforms of the Prime Minister as being shoddy and poorly thought out. The reforms were postponed after widespread protests by education rights bodies and trade unions, parents and teachers following unsuitable content being included in the proposed modules.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, several civil society organisations including the National Movement on Social Justice (NMSJ) had raised concerns about severe problems affecting the functioning of the RTIC. Senior law professor and former Chair, HRCSL Dr Deepika Udagama referred to the urgent need to appoint Commissioners with the ability to handle appeals. Questions were asked about the transparency of the CC process in selecting the nominee recommended for appointment.<\/p>\n
The NMSJ also opposed government attempts to amend Sri Lanka’s RTI Act. Instead of changes, the NMSJ urged President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to resolve the RTIC\u2019s chronic staff shortages and lack of resources. Activists have pointed to increased tendencies on the part of key State bodies including the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister\u2019s Office to refuse information which had earlier been released under different Governments.<\/p>\n
The RTIC has been hit with a spate of resignations this year. Attorney-at-law Jagath Liyanarachchi resigned in January 2026 with social media pointing to the lowest bracket of LKR 90,000\/= paid to Commissioners as a reason. Justice D.N. Samarakoon resigned with effect from June 30th 2026.<\/p>\n
Colombo Telegraph has been told that several appeals have been made to Commissioner Pinto-Jayawardena not to resign. This would paralyze the body with the RTI Act being a victory of media and civil society after two decades of struggle.<\/p>\n
On Friday June 26th 2026, the CC published a Notice calling for nominations from the media to fill the vacancy arising from the latest resignation.<\/p>\n
\u2018Why does the CC does not wish to disclose basic details about nominees to the RTIC? What does it have to hide? ‘ a journalist participating in the NMSJ discussion asked?<\/p>\n
The Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA) has also reacted adversely to \u2018political\u2019 selection of nominees to the RTIC. It was the first to warn that the Government proposes to amend the RTI Act, accusing that this is due to the Act and the RTIC becoming a \u2018threat\u2019 to the NPP’s party machinery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":242111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n