TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN SAARC COUNTRIES

The Right to Information Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as the RTI Act) also known as the sunshine law, brought with itself, a promise of a new dawn for the Indian democracy. The Act claims to be devised to set out a practical regime of the Right to Information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities. It’s intent being to usher in an era of transparency and accountability. Evidently the said Act has worked wonders, forming the basis for several public interest litigations; it has become a weapon for social change. Not only India, but other SAARC countries have also recognized the freedom of information as a tool to empower its citizen, but the power of the same has not being utilized to its optimum, giving the nations an opportunity to both learn from each other’s mistakes and to find inspiration in each other’s success. Pakistan, being the first to issue an ordinance pertaining to same is an example of a wasted opportunity where the “Freedom of Information Ordinance, 2002” failed as a result of several national and administrative obstacles. There have been subsequent work including constitutional amendments and new legislations in Pakistan with respect to RTI, but the socio-political atmosphere seems to hinder the growth of the concept. Similarly, Sri Lanka, owing to its prolonged civil war has not been able to march forward with this idea, a strong bill is being worked on, but its fruition remains to be seen.