Chief Information Commissioner, Vinaya Kumar Kasajoo and two other information commissioners, Sabita Bhandari Baral and Shree Acharya, were appointed for five years term after the government established the commission in 2008.
As the major decision making posts have been lying vacant, NIC has not been able to resolve several cases filed by individuals and organizations regarding the violation of Right to Information by public bodies. As per the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2064 BS, all the public bodies are required to give information on issues concerning public interest. [break]
As per the provision in the act, only a committee comprising speaker of the parliament, minister for information and communication and president of Federation of Nepalese Journalists can appoint officials to the top posts. “But as there is no parliament in the country at present, the government has not been able fill the vacant posts,” said Kasajoo, the former chief commissioner.
He said that failure in appointing the officials has hampered the effective implementation of the act. After rights activists continuously fought for almost two decades for establishing the culture of information sharing in the country, the parliament had passed the Right to Information Act in July 2007, which came into effect on August 19, 31 days after the act was endorsed.
In order to mark the seventh anniversary of the endorsement of the RTI act, various programs were organized in the capital on Monday. The NIC also organized a program in the capital, where stakeholders discussed about the effectiveness of the RTI act in the country and the challenges ahead.
Majority of the participants in the program opined that despite some progress in the implementation of the RTI act, they stressed on the need to create massive awareness regarding the act and its benefits.
Meanwhile, Spokesperson of NIC Madhav Pokharel informed that the NIC is working with the concerned authority to include Right to Information Act and its benefits in the curriculum of secondary and higher secondary level for generating awareness. Likewise, the NIC is also going to set up a pilot project at major ministries related to education, health, agriculture, physical infrastructures and urban development, among others. Under the system, all the major decisions carried out by the authorities, their programs and budget sanctioned will be stored in computers which can be easily accessed by public whenever they want.
“The system will ensure transparency of government activities,” he said.
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