From previous issue...
Section 13(3) of the Act encompassed the jurisdiction of the civil court in respect of the information commission. The commission can issue summons to anyone to enforce the attendance of persons and also can compel to produce oral and written documents or other things as required by the information seeker or the commission itself.
Moreover, it can examine and inspect the information provided to information seeker or to the commission. The veracity of the information may be subject to the inspection of the commission.
The commission can receive evidence on affidavit, bring any information from any office, issue summons for witnesses or documents etc to give effect to the Act.
In addition to the above, the commission can take any steps as per rules for carrying out the purpose of the Act. Therefore, the powers vested to it are wide considering the scope and jurisdiction of the commission.
The functions of the information commission were elaborated in section section 13(5) of the Act. In this section, the commission has got a colossal of scopes to deliver for providing the right to information. In a nutshell, it can do whatever need to ensure people’s right to know in the country.
However, formation of the commission is another area which should be free and fair and in a nonpartisan manner. To form an independent and effective information commission, the law prescribed for a selection committee constituting five members including a judge of the Appellate Division nominated by the Chief Justice.
The cabinet secretary of the government is a member of that selection committee. Another fine tuning of the Act is the inclusion of political leaders in the appointing procedure of the (Chief) information commissioners. As per the Act, a member will be nominated from the ruling party and another from the opposition party in the parliament. Both of these party men will be nomination by the speaker of the parliament. The fifth member shall be from the profession of journalism having experience in this field.
Following the recommendations of the selection committee, the president shall appoint the chief information commission and other commission.
The post of CIC and other commissioners are equivalent to the post of the judge of the supreme court of Bangladesh.
Secretarial role will be played by the information ministry which is a dependency of the commission. To make the commission independent, it should have its own secretariat.
However, there is a clear path of financial independence of the commission which will be vested to the commission subject to law made in this regard. Financial independence is the major yardstick of an organization to evaluate its credibility.
All other procedures from seeking information to other issues related to right to information are mentioned in the Act. Therefore, this act is a comprehensive one towards acknowledgement of people’s right to information.
The commission has proved its upbeat stance for the protection and promotion of the right to information. It has been availing the telecom and ICT facilities to aware the people for their right to information. It is a proactive measure taking by the commission. It has already developed a comprehensive website which is up-to-date and rich. However there are some areas of improvement in the site as well.
Of late, the High Court has upheld the verdict of the Information Commission fining a government official to refuse to provide the information to an individual. Against the decision of the commission that particular officer filed a writ petition. But the HC has ruled that the officer is bound to furnish information to anybody within 20 days or within 30 days in particular cases after filing of the application as per the RTI Act. This is another achievement for the commission considering the colonial mindset towards peoples’ right.
So fast we can ensure the right to information, so even our path to democracy will be built.
Z.M. Humayan: MSS in International Relations (DU) is working with a private organization
