When Saiful Islam (pseudonym) asked for information about khas land under the Right to Information Act, he was told this was sensitive information and could not be given.
Information Commission office says that this situation is created when there is a failure to understand which information can or can’t be given.
Assessment of information related applications of the last 9 years shows that most requests were for general information. Commission sources say that after 2010, the number of cases where information was asked, stands at 3336 and of these 3199 complaints were resolved.
In most cases, the commission gave order for the information to be handed out. The information asked dealt with issues related to land, list of pensions for senior citizens, detail of development work, information about roads, reserve of food etc.
Human rights worker Nur Khan says: “Institution must know about information which will not create any risks and the commissions should work independently.”
Lawyer Syeda Rizwana Hassan wanted to know about BGMEA building approval and she says: “When institutions do not give information and we have to go to the commission, valuable time is wasted.”
A request for a report on the cutting of preserved forest in Moheshkhali was not supplied though this is not a sensitive document, she said.
Liton Kumar, public relations officer of information commission, said: “When there is corruption, information is not provided easily. In addition, people do not have an idea about right to information, and so, do not give out the facts which the people have the right to know.”