Saturday Mar 21, 2026
Saturday Mar 21, 2026
Saturday, 21 March 2026 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
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| Ex-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa |
The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Right to Information (RTI) Act prevails over the Official Secrets Act, while holding that national security cannot be used as a blanket ground to deny access to information, in a judgment delivered on 19 March 2026.
The case arose from a September 2022 RTI request seeking eight details from the Sri Lanka Navy regarding former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s departure aboard a naval vessel during the July 2022 crisis. The request included confirmation of the travel, details of the vessel, duration and route, names of accompanying persons, as well as the total cost incurred and who paid for it.
The Navy rejected the entire request citing Section 5(1)(b)(i) of the RTI Act, arguing that disclosure would undermine national security. On appeal, the Right to Information Commission in August 2023 ordered partial disclosure, directing the Navy to release only two items, the cost of the travel and the source of payment, while allowing the remaining six items to be withheld.
The Navy then appealed to the Court of Appeal, arguing that even disclosing cost data could enable third parties to infer sensitive operational details such as fuel consumption, vessel speed, and logistical patterns.
The Court in its judgement on 19 March 2026, rejected this argument, noting that such specifications are either publicly available or can be reasonably calculated, and therefore do not justify withholding information on national security grounds.
The Bench held that exemptions under the RTI Act must be narrowly interpreted and that authorities must demonstrate a clear and direct link between disclosure and harm to national security. It stressed that “generalised assertions” are insufficient to deny information.
Importantly, the Court ruled that Section 4 of the RTI Act gives it overriding effect over any conflicting written law, including the Official Secrets Act, meaning the latter cannot be used to block disclosure where RTI applies.
Reaffirming that access to information is a fundamental right under Article 14A of the Constitution, the Court noted that transparency in public expenditure is a core element of democratic governance, and that citizens are entitled to scrutinise such spending unless a demonstrable risk is established.
Finding that the Navy failed to meet this threshold, the Court of Appeal affirmed the RTI Commission’s order directing disclosure of the cost and payment details and dismissed the appeal without costs.
