Over one hundred days have passed since an interim government took over the reins of power in Bangladesh, promising a more just, democratic, law-based, and discrimination-free society. Fulfilling such expectations is not easy, as the transition from the violent overthrow of the previous regime is challenging and time-consuming. The new government soon recognised that a priority area for its attention would be governance and restoring governmental authority to ensure a smooth transition.

The Right to Information (RTI) Act 2009 has rich potential to contribute to good governance at this critical moment in our history. There can be no better law to promote a collaborative interaction between public authorities and citizens for transparent and accountable governance. But it needs guiding hands.

Like many other institutions of governance in the country, the RTI regime was disrupted in the aftermath of the July-August mass uprising. Following the spate of resignations or forcible removal of high officials of key public bodies, the country's three information commissioners also had to go. The Bangladesh RTI Commission was thus left rudderless and remains so till date. This must end quickly as citizens' role in utilising the law to monitor the work of all public bodies is crucial at this critical juncture of the nation. The Information Commission must be reconstituted as a matter of priority.

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We need a ‘public interest override’ in the RTI Act

The RTI Act allows citizens to request information from public bodies primarily to check if they are fulfilling their duties abiding by the laws of the land. In recent years, such information requests have increasingly pertained to areas of government activities that are of public interest and susceptible to abuse. For example, inhabitants of an upazila may ask a concerned authority's Designated Officer (DO) for information relating to its tendering process for awarding a contract for the repair work of a local road. If the DO does not respond within 20 working days, applicants can appeal to the appellate authority within the same office. If that, too, does not yield a satisfactory response, the applicant can complain to the Information Commission, which must take the necessary action to resolve the dispute.

Without a functioning Information Commission, there is no one to attend to the complaint, and citizens' role in promoting transparent and accountable governance is thwarted. In the absence of the Information Commission, DOs can disregard citizens' RTI requests without fear of repercussion; any abuse or misuse of their authority remains unchecked, and the Information Commission's general role in promoting the proper implementation of the RTI Act is held in abeyance. An important area in the latter regard is ensuring that public bodies fulfil their proactive disclosure responsibilities under the law through their inclusion and regular website updates. The more public interest information is disclosed proactively, the less pressure there is to use the reactive disclosure process through individual requests.

Data from the Secretariat of the Information Commission revealed that from the time the three commissioners left in September 2024 until now, aggrieved citizens have filed around 190 complaints. All of these have remained unattended. The figure would be even higher if the commission were fully operational. There may be other complaints filed before the July-August uprising that have remained unattended. This is not healthy for the RTI regime.

Given the circumstances in the country, where other urgent matters await government attention, the seeming delay in filling the vacant posts of the three commissioners is understandable. Nevertheless, if the government assures citizens that the matter is under active consideration, this will encourage the use of the law. Even more reassuring would be a clear indication from the government that due process for selecting the commissioners would be respected, which was not the case previously. The law specifies the participation of all critical stakeholders, including citizens, who are the law's key players and primary beneficiaries. The interim government could set an example to ensure that transparency is respected in all processes related to the RTI Act, a law that promotes transparency.

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Time to put the RTI Act on the right track

The need for extra caution in selecting the commissioners will be evident from even a cursory look at the work of the Information Commission in the past 15 years. As a law that empowers citizens to monitor the work of government officials, there is an inbuilt assumption that citizens' requests should deserve priority at any complaint hearing. Unfortunately, this was not the case as most commissioners, as former bureaucrats, felt an affinity with respondent public officials who they considered old colleagues. As a result, such officials were allowed to get away lightly for their wilful neglect of the law.

More importantly, the lack of legal expertise of past commissioners often resulted in the wrong interpretation—and hence misuse—of the law. For example, there is a tendency among public officials to use the exemption provisions of the law, which are there to safeguard the interest of the state over citizens, without careful justification. The only way to challenge the Information Commission's acquiescence with public officials' use of the exemption provisions is to resort to a writ petition in the High Court, which most citizens cannot afford. All such hurdles have cumulatively added to citizens' frustration.

Reanimating the Information Commission and establishing a transparent selection process for the information commissioners would be a lasting contribution of the interim government to ensuring accountable governance in the country. It will be a step towards meeting the important aspirations of the people who put this government in place.

Dr Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz are chairman and assistant director (RTI), respectively, of Research Initiatives, Bangladesh (RIB). They can be reached at rib@citech-bd.com.

Views expressed in this article are the authors' own. 

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