With the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka holding as unconstitutional several clauses of the Right to Information Bill, the government is to study the Apex Court’s determination before proceeding further, The Hindu newspaper reported.

The Court, after hearing four petitions questioning the constitutionality of the Bill,  concluded that four clauses of the legislation, which was taken up for the first reading in Parliament on March 24, violated certain Articles of the Constitution. The failure to stipulate the provision on maintenance of the authority and impartiality of the judiciary as a ground for denial of information and the discrepancy in the definition of public authority to cover private educational institutions were among the provisions challenged.

If the government wanted to have the Bill to be adopted in the present form, it had to get a two-thirds majority and the approval of people through a referendum. However, the Court suggested a way out for the government to get the parliamentary approval for the proposed law with a simple majority if the Court’s suggestions were incorporated in the text.  Recently, Speaker of the Parliament, Karu Jayasuriya, informed the House about the decision of the Supreme Court.

On the Court’s findings, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, Justice Minister, told The Hindu on Saturday that “we have not yet examined the Court’s ruling closely.” To a query whether the government would go by the Court’s advice on the amendments, the Minister replied that “we would look into it.”

-The Hindu
-Agencies