T OWARDS Freedom Forum is an independent, non-governmental and not-for- profit civil society organization working for the cause of democracy O and human rights focused on press freedom, freedom of expression P and right to information in Nepal. E N TOWARDS Incepted in February, 2005, Freedom Forum has emerged as a G prominent national organization in promoting access to information OV and freedom of expression through dialogue, research, training, public advocacy and campaign and programme implementation. E RNM With its firm conviction and untiring efforts to establish Right to OPEN Information in practice, the Forum has stood itself in the forefront of RTI movement in Nepal since its establishment. E NT Among the major initiatives the Forum carried out to establish RTI better practices include proactive involvement in the RTI bill drafting IN GOVERNMENT process, public awareness and advocacy for the enactment of RTI Act, strategic information campaign, RTI use process facilitation, capacity NE building, sensitization and mainstreaming RTI efforts through holding of First National Convention on Right to Information-2011 PAL and subsequent adoption of the Kathmandu Declaration. EXP IN NEPAL The Forum has brought out numerous books, research journals, EXPERIENCES WITH THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION newsletters, periodic reports and analytical papers on different E dimensions of RTI and is effortful to establish it as a crosscutting issue RI E of empowerment and transformation. NC E S WITH TH E R IGHT TO I NFORMATION Freedom Forum P. O. Box: 24292 Tel: +977-1-4102030, 4102022 Fax: +977-1-4226099 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.freedomforum.org.np TOWARDS OPEN GOVERNMENT IN NEPAL EXPERIENCES WITH THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION TOWARDS OPEN GOVERNMENT IN NEPAL EXPERIENCES WITH THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION Strengthening the Right to Information Regime in Nepal First National Convention on the Right to Information Thematic Papers and Proceedings M ARCH 28-29, 2011 l K ATH M ANDU , N EPAL Disclaimer Responsibility for the contents of the papers in this compilation rests solely with the respective author(s). Organized by: Freedom Forum Po. Box : 24292 Phone/Fax : 00977-1-4102030/ 4102022 URL : www.freedomforum.org.np/ www.nepalpressfreedom.org E-mail : [email protected]/ [email protected] Designed and processed by: Print Communication Printed in Nepal Contents T HEMA T IC P A P ERS 1. RTI Initiatives in Nepal: A Background Note - Tara Nath Dahal and Chiranjibi Kafle 01 2. Implementation of the Right to Information in Nepal: Status Report and Recommendations - Toby Mendel 25 3. Implementing the RTI Law in Nepal: Experience, Challenges and Future Strategies of the National Information Commission - Vinaya Kumar Kasajoo 71 4. Government Responsibilities in the Right to Information - Sushil Ghimire 95 5. Experiences and Challenges of Information Officers in the Implementation of the Right to Information - Sher Bahadur Dhungana 107 6. Constitutional Guarantees of the Right to Information with Reference to Nepal - Toby Mendel 125 7. The Right to Information in Nepal: Constitutional and Judicial Perspectives - Ram Krishna Timalsena 149 8. Assessing the Legal Regime for Implementing the Right to Information in Nepal - Tanka Raj Aryal 169 9. A Constitutional and Legal History of the RTI in Nepal - Bipin Adhikari 187 10. The Role of Citizens in Promoting the Right to Information in Nepal - Basu Dev Neupane and Bed Prasad Sapkota 191 11. The Role of the Media in the Promotion of the Right to Information - Yek Raj Pathak 203 Towards Open Government in Nepal 12. Reforming Political Parties in Nepal: The Role of the Right to Information - Sanjeeb Ghimire 223 13. Local Governments and the Right to Information in Nepal - Hem Raj Lamichhane 241 14. Combatting Corruption through the Right to Information - Pranav Bhattarai 257 P ROCEEDINGS 1. Kathmandu Declaration 277 2. Address by Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, Honourable President of Nepal 286 3. Address by Mr. Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Honourable Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Information and Communications, Government of Nepal 288 4. Keynote Address by Mr. Wajahat Habibullah, Chairperson, National Commission for Minorities, and former Chief Information Commissioner, Government of India 292 5. Agenda 302 6. Summary of Proceedings 305 7. Notes on Authors 317 vi Towards Open Government in Nepal Acknowledgements Nepal enacted the its Right to Information (RTI) Act in July 2007. In doing so, it became the third country in South Asia, after Pakistan (2002) and India (2005), to adopt such a law. It was, however, the first country in the region to have formal constitutional recognition of the Right to Information. Bangladesh adopted its RTI law in 2009. Afghanistan, Bhutan and the Maldives are drafting their laws. On March 28-29, 2011, Freedom Forum, in collaboration with the World Bank, organized Nepal’s first National Convention on the Right to Information in Kathmandu in an effort to draw high level attention to issues affecting implementation of the RTI law and to build broad consensus to strengthen the RTI regime. The convention brought together over 150 practitioners, including se- nior Government of Nepal officials, members of the Constituent Assembly, and civil society leaders. Nearly a dozen eminent RTI champions and scholars from South Asia also served as expert resource persons at the various sessions of the convention. The thrust of the National Convention was to inject new energy and create an enabling environment for RTI practitioners to activate both the demand and supply sides of implementation, after four sluggish years following the enactment of the RTI law. Following two days of lively debate, the highlight of the conven- tion was the adoption of the Kathmandu Declaration, a 48 point charter that includes practical measures to strengthen the RTI re- gime as a tool to improve governance and accountability. vii Towards Open Government in Nepal Many people contributed to the success of the convention. We at Freedom Forum extend our deep gratitude to Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, Honourable President of Nepal, for inaugurating the dif- ferent and sharing his insightful thoughts. We also thank Mr. Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Honourable Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Information and Communications, for address- ing the inaugural session. We thank the then Chief Secretary of the Government of Nepal, Mr. Madhav Prasad Ghimire and Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communications, Mr. Sushil Ghimire for chairing convention sessions. We also thank Honorable Members of the Constituent As- sembly Mr. Nilambar Acharya, Mr. Radheshyam Adhikari and Mr. Manmohan Bhattarai for their valuable contributions as panelists. Freedom Forum also thanks Mr. Wajahat Habibullah, former Chief Information Commissioner, India, for delivering his key- note address to the convention. We also thank our expert resource persons, Mr. Vinaya Kasajoo, Chief Information Commissioner, National Information Commission, Nepal; Mr. Muhammad Za- mir, Chief Information Commissioner, Bangladesh; Mr. Shailesh Gandhi, Information Commissioner, Central Information Com- mission, India; Ms. Rahela Siddiqi, Senior Adviser, Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission, Afghani- stan; Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, former Minister of Education, Pakistan; Mr. A.K. Choudhary, Chief Information Commissioner, Bihar; Mr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Director, Centre for Policy Alterna- tives, Sri Lanka; Mr. Rohan Edrisinha, Constitutional Expert, Sri Lanka; Mr. Shamsul Bari, Research Initiatives for Bangladesh; Mr. Mohammad Latheef, Human Rights Ambassador, the Maldives; Mr. Shekhar Singh, National Campaign for the People’s Right to viii Towards Open Government in Nepal Information, India; and Mr. Tenzing Lamsang, News Editor, Busi- ness Bhutan. We also thank our presenters and panelists Mr. Ram Krishna Ti- malsena, Registrar, Supreme Court of Nepal; Ms. Sabita Baral, Commissioner, National Information Commission, Nepal; Mr. Kanak Mani Dixit, Senior Journalist; Prof. Kapil Shrestha, Trib- huvan University; Dr. Bipin Adhikari, Constitutional Lawyer, Nepal; Mr. Dharmendra Jha, Chairperson, Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ); Mr. Bijay Mishra, Lecturer, Tribhuvan Univer- sity; Mr. Basudev Neupane and Mr. Bed Prasad Sapkota, Samuhik Abhiyan, Nepal; Mr. Tanka Aryal, General Secretary, Citizens’ Campaign for Right to Information (CCRI), Nepal; Mr. Sher Ba- hadur Dhungana, Under Secretary, National Vigilance Centre, Nepal; Mr. Hemraj Lamichhane, Executive General Secretary, As- sociation of District Development Committees of Nepal; Mr. Su- dip Pathak, Chairperson, Human Rights Organization of Nepal (HURON); Mr. Ram Krishna Regmi, Senior Journalist; Mr. Yek Raj Pathak, National News Agency, Nepal; Mr. Sanjeeb Ghimire, Freedom Forum, Nepal; Mr. Kedar Khadka, ProPublic, Nepal; and Mr. Pranav Bhattarai, Pro Public Nepal. We also thank the World Bank, in particular, Dr. Vikram K. Chand and Mr. Rajib Upadhya for their untiring contributions to the suc- cess of the convention. Thanks are also due to Mr. Prashant Shar- ma, Research Scholar at the London School of Economics for pro- viding editorial support for this volume and to Ms. Amrita Lamba for writing the proceedings of the conference. We are grateful to Sangeeta Rana and Vidya Kamath for providing administrative support to the convention. ix Towards Open Government in Nepal Finally, I thank my Freedom Forum colleagues, mainly the Execu- tive Members, Mr. Chiranjibi Kafle and Ms. Bishnu Sharma;