Editorial
Mashhud's spirited words
Time for Right to Information Act
The counsel given by Lt. Gen (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, Chairman, Anti-corruption Commission to reporters that they seek out and gather correct information without being weighed down by the Official Secrets Act or other stifling rules strikes a responsive chord in us. His spirit is welcome. But so long as a culture of secrecy and privacy feeds on regressive, colonial time laws, quest for the whole truth will remain a largely futile exercise.
We in this paper being a staunch believer in free and responsible press think that nothing short of a right to information act can guarantee free flow of information. The very existence of such an act which neighbouring India has in vogue will naturally do away with outdated laws like the Official Secrets Act. This has given the people the right to seek information from a government or a corporate sector office which is liable to legal action if it fails to deliver it within a stipulated time.
The virtues of access to information are manifold. It is fundamental to establishing transparency and accountability of the government and society. It helps safeguard rule of law and facilitates people's participation in decision making processes.
The ACC chief's words of advice to the journalists may have reflected a realisation that press can be the most reliable source of information in a context where traditionally government channels of information have tended to be self- glorifying with a bias to please the power that be.
We urge Lt Gen (retd) Hasan Mashhud to join the movement that has been on for legislating a right to information act. At least, he can play a catalytic role in bringing this about. This government is intellectually quite open to such an act. The chief adviser to interim government is extremely respectful of the media and heavily reliant on press for information and trend reading in the absence of parliament as he has said a few times over. The chief of army has more than once publicly supported the idea for a right to information act.
A good deal of spade work has already been done towards bringing about the law. The law commission had drafted a right to information bill which after incorporating improvements suggested by civil society experts is before the law ministry in a revised draft. Time is now to move expeditiously on.
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