freedom1 Forum welcomes the recent substantive reforms the Government of Nepal made in the Right to Information (RTI) Regulations-2009. We are delighted to share that the second amendment to the Regulation has categorically made 13 achievements, having huge potentials to burgeon the scope of access to information in Nepal.

“The Council of Ministers of Nepal has passed the RTI Regulation (Second Amendment)-2070, which is a landmark achievement in the expansion of RTI practice and movement in Nepal’, said freedom1 Forum Chairperson Taranath Dahal, who was also a member of the taskforce the NIC formed to recommend the areas of amendment to the regulation.
In a bid to make the information request application and appeal process wide and practical, the Regulation has legally defined complaint and application process when neither the information nor the reason to provide information is provided to the requester. It has facilitated the process to directly file application to the National Information Commission (NIC) when information is not received from public agencies even after the first appeal.
Other key achievements projected by the amendment include bringing foreign aid, loan, grants and technical assistance received by any public agencies and their programme and progress reports to the domain of proactive disclosure, making classification of information more transparent and pragmatic and paving the way for requesting information through oral request.
The Regulation has enshrined progressive provisions in connection with record keeping and dissemination management, haring process over complaint and appeal, authority delegation to Chief District Officer to push the implementation of NIC orders at local level, designating information officer to senior ranking official and setting up Nodal Agency based on Cabinet decision.
Dahal further said, ‘The move has indicated a landmark achievement to widen the scope and practice of RTI in a multidimensional manner’.
It is worth-mentioning that the overhauling amendment to the RTI Regulation is an outcome of constant engagement, practice and advocacy of freedom1 Forum – a leading civil society organization in the area of right to information in Nepal.