rti news from srilanka " Public should have the right to information- Chief Justice"

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http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=67483

By Susitha R. Fernando

Chief Justice Asoka de Silva said that the public should have the
right to information and be able to question ministers on what they
do. The CJ made the statements at the launch of the 'Justice' magazine
by the Ministry of Justice, which was held at the Supreme Court
complex at Hulftsdorp today.

He pointed out that the legislature would have to provide transparency
with regard to the transactions of the government and keep the
Ministers under obligation to be answerable to what they do.

"It is pertinent to note that the public should have the right to
information which is called access to information. When the public can
have the right to information it can avoid lot of criticism because
when there is access to information there is transparency of the
transactions that are taking place," CJ Asoka de Silva said.

Referring to the previous attempts to introduce legislature with
regard to the right to free information CJ stated that the attempts to
introduce legislature for this were failed and the draft lies inactive
since 2005.

"The Law Reform Commission in 2001 proposed that free access to
information. This was approved by the Cabinet in 2003 but was not
passed in the parliament. However in 2005 again a draft legislature
was considered by the Law Reform Commission and it is still at that
stage," CJ said.

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