Parliamentary committee refers information gathered using RTI The Good Governance and Monitoring Committee of the Legislature-Parliament took the information Freedom Forum gathered using Right to Information (RTI) Act-2007 from government agencies. Freedom Forum took the initiative to demand publicly important information from 30 ministries and 40 other subordinate agencies for investigation purpose. It is the evidence how a Civil Society Organization (CSO) can play the intermediary role to support the implementation of the RTI and subsequent use of information. The certified document provided to the parliamentary committee contains the information received from the government agencies which includes details on vehicles owned by the offices, their present status, fuel and other expenses incurred during operation of those vehicles in the last two fiscal years. RTI campaigners duo, Taranath Dahal and Kumar Chaulagain, had requested the information from the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, 30 ministries including Home, Finance, Urban Development, Defense, Physical Infrastructure and Transport and several other authorities including Trubhuvan University, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Nepal Rastra Bank, Department of Civil Personnel Records, Military Personnel Records, Legislature-Parliament Secretariat, National Reconstruction Authority and National Planning Commission. The information campaign was carried out on September 28, 2016 to mark the 25th International Right to Know Day. Likewise, information on total number of vehicles (motorcycle, car, jeep, truck/ container, etc.) and their registration plate numbers, vehicles unused and status, number of drivers and their status (permanent, temporary, contract or others) including fuel and maintenance expenses of each during two years.
Freedom Forum is a prominent non-governmental organization in Nepal dedicated to institutionalizing democracy, protecting and promoting human rights, press freedom, freedom of expression, right to information, promoting audit accountability, open and accountable budget, public finance reforms, citizen engagement in public finance management and citizen participation in audit. Established in February 2005, the organization emerged in response to the political turmoil following Former King Gyanendra’s coup dated February 1, 2005, which imposed severe restrictions on media and democratic rights. A group of media professionals, legal experts, and academics founded Freedom Forum to safeguard Nepal’s hard-earned democratic freedoms during this repressive period.
