Cabinet approves draft bills on Right to Information and National Audit
April 23, 2015 12:19 pm
The draft bills on ‘Right to Information’ and ‘National Audit’ have been approved by the cabinet of ministers, Cabinet Spokesman Rajith Senaratne said.
He stated that the Right to Information draft bill was presented by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Cabinet meeting last night and that it will be presented in parliament as an ‘Urgent Bill’.
A commission in this regard will be established in order to facilitate the right to information. The commission will mediate to determine on the information that needs to be kept secret.
In order to implement these regulations successfully the subject has been entrusted to the Minister in charge of Public Administration, he added.
The Right to Information Bill was among the highlights of President Maithripala Sirisena’s 100-Day Programme.
In the few months since it was elected, the new government of Sri Lanka put in place a process to prepare a right to information (RTI) law and proposed a set of constitutional amendments which would provide fundamental rights protection for access to information.
Cabinet had also approved a new electoral system that was presented by the President at the meeting.
