Exercising the right to information

Recent trend throughout the world to recognise the citizens' right to information vindicates the veracity of political self of the human kind and that is for freedom and fair play for the people living in a political system. The relation between the state and the individual or the people, in general, is best determined by the values of democracy which ascertain the notion 'Democracy is a government in which everybody has a share'. This share can be realised by the rights one enjoys in a state.
Professor H.J  Laski opines: "State is known by the rights it maintains". Rights fulfill the purpose and the conditions of the social entity of the human kind. Therefore, the right to know or enquire about the decisions and policies, programmes and functions, conditions and outcome of the steps taken by the authorities involved in steering the course of the state to realise the welfare of the people is to be guaranteed.
It is the socio-political right of the people to get easy access in the state of affairs he, or she, or they belong to. They should have this right to know, have their say with regard to any decision which may affect either their individual or public life. There should be enough scope for their assent or approval and disagreement or disapprobation. The essence of the right to information lies here in the human conscience developing with the passage of time.
As we see, between 1766 and 1888, only two countries, Sweden and Columbia initiated the law on the right to information which was followed by 95 countries today by 2014. People's freedom of access to information, when granted and protected by law it, is a legal right, violation of which is a punishable offense.
Right to Information Act, 2009 in Bangladesh
The Right to Information Act, 2009(RTI Act) marks a stage in Bangladesh in its constant persuasion for democracy. Access to information is an inalienable part of freedom of thought, conscience and speech directed by the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. It is determined as the fundamental right of the people and taken as a tool to empower the people as well.
Desirous of a political system where the right to information of the people is ensured, it is expected that 'the transparency and accountability of all public, autonomous and statutory organisations and of other private institutions constituted or run by government or foreign financing shall increase, corruption of the same shall decrease and good governance of the same shall be established….'  With these aims and objectives in view, the legislature of Bangladesh, the 9th Jatiyo Sangsad passed the law, titled ,"Right to Information Act, 2009", Act no xx, in its first session on 29 March, 2009.
The President of the Republic approved it on 05 April, 2009 which was notified in the gazette on 06 April, 2009 and has been commenced since 01 July, 2009. According to this Act, "right to information means the right to obtain information from any authority..". This is mandatory. 'Information' includes any memo, book, design, data, logbook, notification, audio, video, drawing, paintings etc, in short, any information in relation to the constitution, structure and official activities of any authority.
The Act has 8 chapters with 37 sections. Section 07 of this chapter clearly points out reservation for 20 types of information, which are not mandatory for publication or to be provided with. These types of information include mainly those which may cause threat to the security, integrity or sovereignty of Bangladesh, secret information received from foreign government, intellectual property, privacy of the personal life, issues and process of investigation, matters pending before any court of law and which has been expressly forbidden to be published by any court of law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court etc.
As for the jurisdiction of the Right to Information Act, 2009, it covers:
* Constitutional and statutory body,
* Government offices,
* Autonomous organizations,
* Public-private partnership,
* Private organisations functioning on contract with the government,
* Non-government organisations (NGOs) financed by the government or foreign agencies, and
* Any organisations or institution as may be notified in the official gazette from time to time by the government.
INFORMATION COMMISSION: After the commencement of the RTI Act, the Information Commission was established on 01 July, 2009.
The Commission is formed with the Chief Information Commissioner who is also the chief executive along with two other Commissioners, one of whom shall be a woman. The power and main function of the Information Commission are to receive, inquire into and dispose of such complaint, namely,
(a) Non-appointment of officer-in-charge by any authorities or its refusal to accept a request for information,
(b) A request for information left unattended, and
(c) If the applicant is asked for fee or compelled to pay an amount of fee which he considers to be unreasonable, etc.
The Information Commission may exercise such power as a civil court does under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act V of 1908).
PERFORMANCE SINCE 2009: Since its inception in 2009, the Information Commission has not only succeeded in making itself well-known in public life within a very short period but also in establishing its image as a public-welfare institution. People's interest, faith and trust can be taken as the prime achievements of the Commission under the leadership of three veteran career bureaucrats of the Republic as its chief executive. The four other successive Commissioners have also proved their efficiency in handling the cases of complaint and providing fair judgment in a number of critical cases related to public access to information.
Besides, the Information Commission has undertaken a number of programes, i.e.,-
* The Information Commission has already arranged awareness-building sessions about the Right to Information in all the 64 districts and 18 sub-districts of Bangladesh,
* The Commission has already completed training of 8,468 designated officers apprising them about the law, rules, regulations and procedures to provide information to the people on their demand, etc,
* One of the Commissioners has already visited four districts including the remote troublesome areas of Chittagong Hill Tracts to exchange views with the Advisory Committee assigned by the government to facilitate free flow of information to the people of the districts they belong to.
They have been suggested to initiate and innovate effective programmes suitable to the local culture to disseminate knowledge about the Right to Information at the grassroots level,
* The Information Commission has so far collected 18,896 names of the designated officers to provide information to the people on their demand,
* It has already opened its website: www.infocom.gov.bd which has been visited by 217 persons daily on an average. The e-mail account of the Commission is: cic@infocom.gov.bd
* For popularising the Commission's efforts for free flow of information guaranteed by the RTI Act, 2009, it went for text message, SMS and TV scroll,
* The Commission has also initiated short documentary films to provide messages to the public regarding the utility of the RTI Act, 2009 in their daily lives,
* The Information Commission has already published a number of booklets, posters, leaflets, yearly report, newsletter, etc on the functioning of the Commission,
* It has celebrated the Right to Information Day on 28 September, 2014 and
* It has settled 740 out of 761 complaints and imposed fines in three cases for declining to provide information on demand in time.
INSTITUTIONALISING DEMOCRACY: The government of Bangladesh under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina has not only enacted the law, the Right to Information Act, 2009, but also has taken sincere efforts to bring it to public practices within the shortest possible time.
On 21 October, 2014, the working group of the Cabinet Division passed an order to form a 15-member Advisory Committee to be chaired by the Deputy Commissioner in all the districts of the Republic.
The terms of reference for the committee relate to awareness building, settlement of disputes or investigation with regard to complications, if these arise, for implementation of the RTI Act, 2009, co-ordination of different governmental and non-governmental authorities in their information-providing functions, celebration of international days on the Right to Information etc.
It is expected now that the people of Bangladesh would come forward to exercise this right and acknowledge their ownership of the state. The RTI, 2009 is a unique effort, of course, to empower the people.
As for the everlasting  'linkage' between the politicians and the voting public, between the people and the public administration, in the true sense of the term, the political system of Bangladesh is yet to institutionalise strategies and achievements of all the historical protests and movements, upsurges and upheavals of struggling people in their right forms and approaches.
Needless to mention that the enactment of the Right to Information Act, 2009 in Bangladesh is a decisive attempt of the present 14-party Alliance under the leadership of the Awami League to institutionalise democracy in Bangladesh.
The spirit of the freedom struggle of the people in 1971 is expected to be reflected in enforcement of the people's supreme power in near future, as asserted by Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his blazing speech delivered on 07 March, 1971, "Brethren! (People of Bangladesh), you are aware of everything (state of affairs) of the land and you understand…!"
Professor Dr. Khurshida Sayeed is Commissioner, the Information Commission
Khurshidaju@yahoo.com