Nepal is among 50 countries of the world to guarantee Right to Information constitutionally as well as has a separate and specific legislation on right to information.

1. Right to Information
and It's Practices in Nepal
LL.B THIRD YEAR
PROJECT WORK- 2068 (Purposal)
Submitted By:
Mira Lamichhane
LL.B Third Year
Submitted To:
Tribhuvan University
Faculty of Law
Nepal Law Campus
Exhibition Road, Kathmandu

2. 1. Introduction
Information is power and the spirit of democracy. The right to information is
considered as a fundamental human right. 'Right to Information' is also known as
the freedom of information or the right to know. In a modern democracy, good
governance is essential. Among the chief characteristics of good governance are
transparency and accountability, elements that can be best ensured only when
information is available abundantly and as speedily as possible. (Right to
Information: P Kharel 2001, The Rising Nepal)
Right to information (RTI) empowers public for questioning government
agencies about the process, status and result of different activities thereof. The
quest of procedural and financial transparency by applying right to information
is quite essential, that helps in paving the way for public to participate in
decision-making process and governance system.
For the first time in 1946, United Nations General Assembly Resolution
recognized it and highlighted the importance of the right to information as
crucial rights for promoting overall human rights. It states, “Freedom of
information is a fundamental human right the touchstone of all the freedoms to
which the United Nations is consecrated.” United Nation Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) recognized right to information under Article 19. Under the
provision, right to seek, receive and impart information without interference and
regardless of frontiers is protected. Similarly Article 19 of International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) has guaranteed right to information in
Article 19. It states, "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this
right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of
all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of
art, or through any other media of his choice" Both documents protected right to
information as integral part of freedom of expression. The trend on regional
mechanism is similar. Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights,
Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights and Article 9 of African
Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights also recognize right to information as a
part of freedom of expression.
Sweden was the first country to recognize the right to information in 1766,
followed by Colombia in 1888, whose Code of Political and Municipal
Organization allowed individuals to request documents held by government
agencies or in government archives.

3. It took about a century to count third country having legal provision on RTI. In
1953 Finland adopted right to information law, followed by the United States in
1966, and Norway passed a law on right to information in 1970. Similarly,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand passed on 1982 and Italy in 1990. Till the
date 89 countries have legally endorsed RTI, after Nigeria passed, ‘Access to
Information Act’ in March last year.
(http://www.freedominfo.org/2011/03/nigerian‐senate‐passes‐modified‐foi‐leg
islation)
Nepal time and often was under the rule of family autocracy be it the Rana
regime that came to an end in 1950 or the party less Panchayat system for next 30
years. Freedom was curtailed it was subject of ruler mercy. In that context, there
was no room for the RTI and seeking the information held in public bodies was
beyond the imagination. There for Nepali people had to wait for 1990’s
movement to get the constitutional guarantee of the right. The People’s
Movement of 1990 has stood as one of the major historical turning points in the
political history of Nepal. It was important from the point of view of a paradigm
shift in the political system that recognized people’s fundamental rights and
accepted people’s participation in governance
The Constitution has very explicitly recognized right to information as
fundamental right under Article 16. By this constitutional guarantee, Nepal
became the first country in south Asia having the 'Right to Information' Asia
fundamental right.
'Right to Information Bill' was first tabled in the parliament in 1993 but was
rejected by the parliamentary committee as the stakeholders including media
opposed that draft. The Bill was finally tabled in the parliament in 2001. At the
same time, the judiciary played a very significant role in the interpretation of the
fundamental right to information and the development of RTI jurisprudence in
Nepal.
After the restoration of democracy followed by the popular people’s movement
the new constitution, Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007 was promulgated. As in
1990 constitution, the Interim constitution also ensured Right to Information
under the Article 27 as a fundamental right. The article states: Every citizen shall
have the right to demand and receive information on any matter of public
importance: Provided that nothing in this Article shall compel any person to
provide information on any matter about which secrecy is to be maintained by
law.

4. Following the immense pressure of and recommendation made by the peoples
from the various walks of life a commission was made to look after the matter.
The government in September 2007 formed a taskforce to draft a Bill on right to
information in. The seven-member taskforce headed by former secretary of the
Judicial Council Kashi Raj Dahal made a draft which was endorsed by the
parliament with the amendments in July 18, 2007 and the Act came in force from
August 19, 2007. (http://www.ccrinepal.org/legal-provision/rti-act-2007)
As envisioned in the Act, National Information commission was established on
June 4, 2008 and Right to information Regulation was adopted in consultation
with National Information Commission on February 9, 2008.
(www.nic.gov.com.np)
2. Statement of the Problem
Nepal is among 50 countries of the world to guarantee RTI constitutionally as
well as has a separate and specific legislation on right to information. In addition,
Nepal has international obligation for protection of the right to information since
it has ratified ICCPR without any reservation.
Four years have passed since the endorsement of RTI Act in Nepal. In this
context, it is very essential to know the status of its implementation. More over
the new constitution is being drafted; the key features of RTI Act and its
drawback should be analyzed to ensure RTI under fundamental right. In this
situation, the study focuses on analyzing the current implementation status of the
RTI Act.
3. Objective of the study
The general objective of this research is to examine the implementation status of
the RTI Act in Nepal.
The specific objectives of this research are:
a. To find out the key features and drawback of RTI Act 2007
b. To find out the implementation status of the Act

5. 4. Literature Review
The Interim constitution 2007 ensured Right to Information under the Article 27
as a fundamental right. The article states, "Every citizen shall have the right to
demand and receive information on any matter of public importance: Provided
that nothing in this Article shall compel any person to provide information on
any matter about which secrecy is to be maintained by law."
Four years have passed since the endorsement of RTI Act in Nepal, however, a
few literature have been published analyzing the implementation status of the
act.
In international practice RTI Acts guarantee right to every individual however,
the Act access to information only to a Nepali citizen and not to an individual.
This provision limits the access of other people who are not citizens but have a
real concern about the information being sought. This limitation is against the
standards set by ICCPR. In addition, part of the scope of the application of the
law remains unclear and this may need to be better worded for clarity. The
definition section of the Act does not specifically make clear whether the RTI Act
applies to the legislative and judicial branches of government, as well as to the
executive. ("An analysis of Right to Information Act 2007”, Freedom Forum). This
literature identifies the need of implementation of RTI with the conscience of
international conventions and practice.
Similarly The Annual Report of National Information Commission 2065- 2066
states that 'once the RTI law is enacted, State has the obligation to make RTI laws
compatible with legal arrangement. This equally applies in the context of Nepal
too. However, still many legal provisions are not friendly with RTI Act.
Moreover, such provisions are promoting the secrecy of the official document.
Along with that, the culture of secrecy among the civil servants is being a barrier
to implement the RTI Act in Nepal.
Implementation of right to information is obligation of government. Government
has to mobilize different state organs to make necessary arrangement. In Nepal,
National Information Commission is there as an oversight body Protection,
promotion and implementation obligation is assigned to NIC. Ministry of
Information and Communications is considered as line ministry to contact to
government by the NIC. Neither there is any specific legal provision on creating
a implementing agency taking responsibility of implementing RTI nor has
government taken any initiatives to create nodal agency within the government.

6. (Long Way to Go -Towards effective Implementation of the Right to Information
Laws in Nepal, CCRI- 2010.)
These literature gave the outline of the implementation status of RTI Act. And
identified draw back and limitation off the act.
5. Methodology
The secondary data collection method will be used to generate necessary
information for the study. The case study and analytical method will be used to
analyze and interpret the data. The cases will be selected randomly on the basis
of appeals have been made in National Information Commission. Not more than
three cases will undergo the analysis process.
6. Organization of the study
The whole study will be divided into five major chapters. The first chapter,
Introduction, includes, Statement of the Problem, Objective of the Study,
Literature Review, Methodology, Limitations of the Study and Organization of
the Study. Second chapter will be focused on the history and importance of RTI.
Similarly, the third chapter consists off the key features of the RTI Act 2007. In
fourth chapter, implementation status of RTI Act will be analyzed on the basis of
the selected cases. Finally, the last chapter consists of the conclusion part and RTI
in new constitution.
7. Limitation of the study
The study is limited only in the single fundamental right that is, Right to
Information and related act and laws. The required data will be collected from
the secondary sources. The analysis and interpretation will be based on the case
analysis methods. The selected cases will be the appeals that have been made in
National Information Commission.

7. Bibliography
1. An analysis of "Right to Information Act 2007”, Freedom Forum
2. Annual Report of National Information Commission 2065-2066
3. Information Laws in Nepal, CCRI- 2010
4. Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007
5. Long Way to Go -Towards effective Implementation of the Right to
Information
6. Memorandum on the Right to Information Act of the State of Nepal
2008
7. Right to Information Act, 2007
8. Right to Information, Legal Prospective: Tanka Aryal, Right to
Information Conference March 28 and 29 Kathmandu
9. Right to Information: P Kharel 2001, The Rising Nepal
10. Tara Nath Dahal: Towards More Open and Transparent
Governance in South Asia New Delhi, 27-29 April 2010
11. Tanka Aryal: Citizen Campaign for Right to Information
12. www.ccrinepal.org
13. www.freedominfo.org
14. www.nic.gov.com.np)