Right to Information
The Right to Information (RTI) Act No. 12 of 2016 was enacted to regularize the right of access to information to the general public. The act was passed by Parliament on 24th June 2016. The Act was enforced in relation to Ministries/Public Authorities with effect from 03rd February 2017.
This Ministry has appointed information Officers to each division and in addition has appointed Mr. C.A.H.M Wijeratne, Senior Director General Legal as Information Officer and Mr. M.M. Jaffeer, Additional Secretary as Designated Officer.
Contact details of the Right to Information Unit as well as the above Officials are as follows;
RTI Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Email: rti@mfa.gov.lk
Telephone: 011 5921154
Fax: 011 2446091
Designated Officer
Name: Mr. Ahmad Jawad – Additional Secretary / Multilateral Affairs
Telephone: 011 242 4773
Fax : 011 232 4406
Mobile : 077 895 1369
Email: addl.sec1@mfa.gov.lk
Information Officer
Name: Ms. Kumudini Abeykoon – Legal Officer
Telephone: 011 243 2650
Fax: 011 243 3384
Mobile: 071 445 0375
Email:kumudini.abeykoon@mfa.gov.lk
rti@mfa.gov.lk
As per the Act, Public Authorities should respond to RTI requests within 14 days, with provision in certain circumstances for time frame to extend to a maximum of 21 days.
In accordance with the Act, the completion of this Form is not a compulsory requirement to make a request for information and that any written letter, e-mail or a verbal request with the essential information to identify the requested information is sufficient. You may download the form under the Regulation No. 01 by the following link :Click Here to Download the (PDF) form and MS Word format (Doc)
(Specimen text below)
Regulation No. 01
Application to receive Information
Information Officer,
01. Name of Requester :………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
02. Address :………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
03. Contact No. (if any) :……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
04. Email Address (if any) :……………………………………………………………………………………………………
05. Details about Information requested –
I. Specific Public Authority :……………………………………………………………………………………………………
II. Information requested ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………..
…………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
III. Specific period information is requested (if applicable) :………………
06. Manner in which information is requested–
i. inspect relevant work, documents, records
ii. take notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records
iii. take certified samples of material
iv. obtain information in the form of CD/DVD/storage media/tapes/video cassettes/ any other electronic mode/ printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device.
07. Language in which requester prefers access :……………………….
08. Does the information request concern the life and personal liberty of a citizen? (Yes/No)
09. If Yes, give reason for belief………………………………………………………………………………………
09. Any other details :………………………………………………….
10. Relevant documents attached (If any)
I. ……………………………
II. …………………………….
III. …………………………….
11. Is the requester a citizen of Sri Lanka? (Yes/No)
Date :………………………………
Signature :………………………………………………
Method of Appeal
An appeal to the Designated Officer is to be made within 14 days.
Designated Officer
Name : Mr. M.M. Jafeer
Designation : Additional Secretary
Division : UN & Multilateral Affairs Division
Telephone : 011 2424773
Fax : 011 2324406
Email : m.jaffeer@mfa.gov.lk
When making an appeal as mentioned in s.6 of this notice, complete and hand over Form RTI 10, to the Designated Officer. The RTI 10 Form is not compulsory. A citizen making a request can make the appeal by a letter with the basic information indicated in RTI 10 justifying the appeal. You may download the application through the following link: Click Here to Download the (PDF) application. MS Word Foramt (Doc)
(Specimen text below)
RTI 10
Appeal to the Designated Officer
Designated Officer,
………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………
Public Authority:…………………..
Appeal Form
01. Name of Person Appealing : …………………………………………………………………………………………….
02. Address : ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
03. Contact Number (if any) : ……………………………
04. Email Address (if any) : …………………………………
05. Date request made to Information Officer and Registration Number:
06. Did you receive a reply from the Information Officer ? Yes/No : ……………………………. (if Yes and you have a copy, please attach; otherwise provide details of reply)
07. Grounds for Appeal:
i. The Information Officer refuses a request made for information
ii. The Information Officer refuses access to the information on the ground that such information is exempted from being granted under Section 5
iii. Non -compliance with time frames specified in the Act
iv. The Information Officer granted incomplete, misleading or false information
v. The Information Officer charged excessive fees
(vi) The Information Officer refused to provide information in the form requested
(vii) The requestor has reasonable grounds to believe that information has been deformed, destroyed or misplaced to prevent the requestor from having access to the information
Details: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
08. Brief description of information requested : ………………………..
09. If Appeal has not been submitted within the specified time period, cause of delay [s. 31(5)] :
10. Any other details : ………………………
Date : ………………………………………….
Signature:
Fees
Right to Information Commission Rules of 2017
Rules (2017)
The Right to Information Commission in exercise of the power conferred upon it by Section 42 of the Act prescribes the following rules:
1. Short Title and Commencement:
(1) These Rules may be called “Right to Information Rules of 2017 (Fees and Appeal Procedure)”.
(2) These Rules shall come into force on February 3, 2017.
2. Definitions: Unless the subject or context otherwise requires, in these Rules-
(a) “Act” means Right to Information Act No.12 of 2016.
(b) “Commission”, “Information Officer”, Designated Officer”, and “Public Authority” will have the same meaning as defined in the Act.
(c) “Appellant” means and includes any citizen who Appeals to the Right to Information Commission under Section 32 of the Act.
(d) “Material” means information provided in response to a Right to Information request or an Appeal.
(e) all other words or expressions used herein and not defined in these Rules shall have the same meanings assigned to them in the Act.
Structure of the Fees for the information requested
3. Application Fees:
(1) No Public Authority shall charge any fee to provide a Right to Information Application Form to a citizen making an information request.
(2) No Public Authority shall charge any fee to process a Right to Information request.
4. Fees for Information:
Unless otherwise prescribed, the following Fees may be charged by a Public Authority for provision of information in response to a RTI request:
(i) Photocopying:
(a) Rs. 2/- (one side) and 4/- (both sides) of one paper, for the information provided on A4 (21 cm x 29.7 cm) and smaller size paper
(b) Rs. 4/- (one side) and 8/- (both sides) of one paper for the information provided on paper that is Legal size (21.59 cm x 35.56 cm) and upto A3 (29.7 cm x 42 cm)
(c) Information provided on paper bigger than those mentioned above will be at actual cost.
(ii) Printout
(a) Rs. 4/- (one side) and 8/- (both sides) of one paper, for the information provided on A4 (21 cm x 29.7 cm) and smaller size paper
(b) Rs. 5/- (one side) and 10/- (both sides) of one paper for the information provided on paper that is Legal size (21.59 cm x 35.56 cm) and upto A3 (29.7 cm x 42 cm)
(c) Information printed on paper bigger than those mentioned above will be at actual cost.
(iii) Rs. 20/- for copying information onto a Diskette, Compact Disc, USB mass drive, or similar electronic device, provided by the citizen making the request.
(iv) Actual cost for copying information onto a Diskette, Compact Disc, USB mass drive, or similar electronic device provided by the Public Authority.
(v) Rs. 50/- per hour for the study or inspection of any document or material, or inspection of a construction site, if this takes longer than one hour, with the first hour of study/inspection being provided free of charge. This shall be without prejudice to the practice of public authorities which previously provided such inspection free of charge and which practice shall continue notwithstanding this sub-rule.
(vi) Samples or models will be charged the actual cost.
(vii) Information provided via e-mail will be free of charge.
5. Where there exists a previous Fee Schedule prescribed or issued by Public Authorities by way of circulars or regulations, that Fee Schedule shall continue to operate notwithstanding the Fees prescribed in Rule 4.
Provided that any dispute in regard to claims relating to existing Fee Schedules may be the subject of an Appeal to be determined by the Commission in accordance with these Rules on Fees and Appeals.
6. Information provided free of charge:
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in Rule 4 above, the Public Authority shall provide information prepared or contained on four pages (A4 size) of photocopies or printing, free of cost.
(2) Information that is ordinarily available free of charge shall continue to be provided free of charge.
7. Mode of Payment of Fee:
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained elsewhere in these Rules, the Public Authority may collect the Fees for information in the following manner:
(i) in cash paid to the Information Officer;
(ii) Bank Draft addressed to the Accounts Officer of the Public Authority;
(iii) post office payment slip or a postal order made payable to the Accounts Officer of the Public Authority.
(2) The Information Officer shall issue a receipt against payment of a fee regardless of the manner in which it is paid.
8. Access to Information:
(1) For larger volume requests, the information officer shall inform the citizen making the request prior to providing access to the information about the various formats through which access may be obtained and their associated costs, as well of the possibility of taking notes, copying extracts, including at the discretion of the Public Authority, the possibility of photographing the material with a phone or hand held camera.
(2) Excepting the situations mentioned in Rules 5, and 6, the prescribed fee should be paid in full before access to the material is given to the citizen making the request.
9. Proactive Disclosure:
(1) The Reports submitted by the Ministers pursuant to Section 8 of the Act and Public Authorities pursuant to Section 10 of the Act shall be publicly available for inspection free of charge and for free downloading from a website, and copies, including electronic copies, provided to a citizen making the information request in accordance with the Fees prescribed in the above Rules.
(2) A Minister who is implementing a project should pursuant to Section 9 of the Act make publicly available all material relating to the project. Such material, shall be publicly available for inspection free of charge and for free downloading from a website, and copies provided to the citizen making the request in accordance with the Fees prescribed in the above Rules.
10. Appeals regarding Fees:
(1) If the citizen making the request is of the opinion that the Fee charged by the Information Officer is in excess to the amount properly required he/she may appeal to the Designated Officer within fourteen days of being informed by the Information Officer of the fee payable as per Section 31 of the Act using the format prescribed in the RTI regulations.
(2) If the citizen making the request is not satisfied with the decision of the Designated Officer, he/she may within two months of the decision appeal to the Commission following the Appeal procedure prescribed in Section 32 of the Act and relevant Rules thereto.
(3) The making of an appeal to the Designated Officer and/ or Commission does not require the payment of a fee. Appeal forms are to be issued free of charge.
11. Exemption of Fee Charge upon Successful Appeal:
If a citizen making an information request is successful in an Appeal either to the Designated Officer or the Commission, the information requested by the citizen making the request should be provided free of charge.
12. Reimbursement of Fees:
The Commission may, in accordance with Section 15 (g) of the Act, direct a Public Authority to reimburse any Fees charged to a citizen making a request where any information is not provided within the time period specified in the Act.
