The Right to Information Commission says that it has not been consulted on any proposed amendment to the RTI Act, despite mounting concern among media bodies and civil society groups over reports of an impending change to the law.
RTI Commission Director General K.D.S. Ruwanchandra told The Daily Morning that the Commission had neither participated in discussions nor been informed of any such move by the authorities.
Ruwanchandra stated that the Commission had not been involved in anything connected to amending the Act and had received no information about such a process being underway.
He explained that responsibility for initiating any amendment to the RTI Act, No. 12 of 2016, would rest with the Mass Media Ministry, but noted that the Commission had not yet been asked for its views on the matter.
He added that the Commission would provide its feedback if requested to do so, though no such request had been made so far.
Concerns among media organisations and civil society groups have been building following a recent meeting between media bodies and Deputy Mass Media Minister Dr. Kaushalya Ariyarathne.
The meeting reportedly touched on wider media policy issues as well as the possibility of amendments to the RTI Act, prompting unease among those present over the potential direction of the proposed changes.
In the aftermath of that meeting, the Working Journalists Association cautioned that any move to curtail public access to information would trigger strong resistance, warning of a large scale protest campaign involving both media organisations and civil society groups.
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