‘AKD can choose new member or select one of the four serving Commissioners’

Of the five-member Right to Information (RTI) Commission, one slot remains vacant, in spite of mounting pressure on the government to fill the vacancy and to appoint a Chairperson.

Former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, who spearheaded a high profile campaign to establish the RTI Commission under the RTI Act No. 12 of 2016, in his capacity as the leader of the National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ), three months ago, has also stressed the need to fill those vacancies.

At the time of the last parliamentary elections, conducted in late November 2024, the RTI Commission comprised Justice (retd.) Upali Abeyrathne (Chairperson), Justice (retd.) Rohini Walgama, Attorney-at-Law Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, Attorney-at-Law Jagath Liyana Arachchi, and academic Mohamed Nahiya.

Justice Walgama and Justice Abeyrathne resigned on 31 Dec., 2024 and 04 March 2025, respectively.

The quorum for the operation of the Commission is three. Therefore, the Commission was able to proceed regardless of the resignation of Justices Walgama and Abeyrathne. However, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake recently filled the vacancy created by Justice Walgama’s resignation. He appointed Justice (retd.) D.M. Samarakoon, on recommendations made by the Constitutional Council. The President could have named either Justice Samarakoon or any other remaining member of the Commission as the Chairperson but he chose not to do so, sources said.

Controversy surrounds the inordinate delay in filling the vacancy and the appointment of a Chairperson against the backdrop of the RTI Commission seeking an explanation from the Presidential Secretariat regarding its failure to provide information pertaining to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s personal staff, the positions they hold, their monthly salaries and allowances, and the number and types of vehicles assigned to them.

The RTI Commission consists of a Chairperson and four members appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. In terms of the RTI Act, the Constitutional Council is required to include in the list of nominees to the President one person each nominated by the a) Bar Association of Sri Lanka, b) media organisations and c) other civil society organisations.

Responding to queries, sources said that obviously there was a delay on the part of the Constitutional Council in filling the remaining vacancy. Although the applications closed on April 1, 2025, interviews were yet to be held, other sources said, adding that though the Constitutional Council was to fill the vacancy, created by former Chairperson Justice Abeyrathne’s resignation, it couldn’t recommend a Chairperson to the President.

“The President can either name the new appointee as the Chairperson or chose one of the four current members for the top post,” a well informed source said.

Sources contested the BASL’s recent appeal to the Constitutional Council to recommend a suitable person as the Chairperson of the RTI Commission. The BASL should know that Constitutional Council could only recommend members to the RTI Commission and it was the President’s prerogative to choose one of them as the Chairperson, sources said.

By Shamindra Ferdinando