Abstract
Proactive disclosure is a fundamental principle of the Right to Information (RTI), aimed at fostering transparency and accountability in governance. The principle of proactive disclosure mandates that public entities should mandatorily publish essential information, creating transparency without the need for public requests. Despite legislative provisions such as Section 5 of the 2007 Act and Rule 3 of the RTI Rules, 2008, requiring periodic updates, compliance varies widely among local governments.
Proactive disclosure contributes to good governance by enabling citizens to access information on public policies, budgets, services, and development projects. This transparency supports informed public participation and strengthens the rule of law, as stipulated in the Constitution of Nepal. By fostering a responsive government that publishes information routinely, proactive disclosure enhances transparency, and accountability ensuring that sovereignty and democratic values are upheld through informed citizenry and oversight.
The article highlights major findings from the study conducted across local governments and their practices in relation to proactive disclosure. A study of 14 local governments in Nepal revealed only 2 actively maintained a proactive disclosure section on their websites, with 1 dedicating tab for RTI.
Access to Information is one of the most important parts of strengthening good governance and democracy in the present day, among the various elements of Good Governance, RTI has also been the major tool to promote good governance in the Country.
Looking back on the history of the Right to Information, the notion of the Right to Information emerged from the Printing Press Act of Sweden in 1776 AD for the first time in the world. Nepal is the first country in South Asia to include the provision of the Right to Information in Article 16 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal,1990 whereas Pakistan is the first country to implement the RTI Act in South Asia in 2002.
As per Section 2(c) of the Right to Information Act, 2007, the Right to information means the right to request and obtain information of public importance held in public bodies and this term shall also include the right to study or observation of any written document, or material held in public body or proceedings of such Public Body; to obtain a verified copy of such document, to visit or observe the place where any construction of public importance is going on and to obtain verified sample of any materials or to obtain information held in any type of machine through such machine.
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
As per Article 19, there are various updated principles of the right to information some of them are:
- Maximum disclosure
- Obligation to publish
- Promotion of open government
- Limited scope of exceptions
- Processes to facilitate access
- Costs
- Open meetings
- Disclosure takes precedence
- Protection for whistleblowers
Among the various above-mentioned principles of the Right to information updated by Article 19, obligations to publish is one of them highlighting proactive disclosure. Any public entity should not only publish the information after the request but should also proactively publish the information. As proactive disclosure is one of the major principles of the right to information, this principle mandates that the information should be disclosed on suo-moto so that it may create proper accountability for the public entity towards the people.
However, it is seen that only a few local governments have designed the websites in such a manner that they include a separate tab for proactive disclosure. 14 local governments were taken as the sample population to look at the status of proactive disclosure of the information. Among 14 Local governments that were taken as the sample municipalities including Rural municipalities, Municipalities, Sub-metropolitan city, and Metropolitan city only 2 local governments kept the tab for proactive disclosure on their website whereas 1 local government used the tab for the Right to information. The visualization shows the status of local governments that were taken as the sample to know about the seriousness and status of proactive disclosure.
Fig: Proactive disclosure at local government
Right to Information Act, 2007 mandates public entities to publish prescribed information through appropriate mediums. The act mandates the allocation of separate information officers at all public bodies to disseminate the information held in its office in Section 6 of the Act. Also regarding the dissemination of information the public body shall set up an information section for disseminating information as per Section 6(c) of the Act.
In the present context, all the 753 Local Governments, 7 provinces, the federal government, and all the entities under them have hosted their own websites. The websites contain much of the necessary information including the drafted policies, budgets, official information and other important documentation. Right to Information Act, 2007 mandates the regular update of the information. Section 5 of the Act mentions the provision related to the publication and updating of information.The Act mandates the Public Body to publish the following information:
- Structure and nature of body
- Functions, duties and powers of the body
- Number of employees and working details of body
- Service to be rendered by the body
- Branch and responsible officer of the service providing body
- Fee and time limit required for the service
- Decision-making process and authority
- Authority to hear appeals against a decision
- description of functions performed
- Name and designation of Chief and information officer
- List of acts rules, bylaws, or guidelines
- Updated description of income, expenditure and financial transactions
- Other particulars as prescribe
The Act mentions that the public body should update and publish this information within the proper timeframe. This is another major provision related to the proactive disclosure of the information as it mandates the public entity to publish such information every 3 months by suo moto or self-initiation. Similarly, Right to Information Rules, 2008 in Rule 3 expands a few other requirements to be published according to Section 5(3) of the Right to Information Act, 2007 such as
- details of program or project run by the Public Body in the previous fiscal year, if any,
- details of the website of the Public Body, if any,
- details of the information of the Public Body published or to be published elsewhere if any.
The Principle of Proactive Disclosure always motivates the Government to publish the information that should be disseminated among the Public before the public asks for it. The RTI aims for a transparent, accountable and responsive Government with the responsibility that the government should disseminate information that the public should have access to even if not asked by the Public. The proactive disclosure of the information helps the general public to access the information publicly disclosed which may be helpful for data collection, to know about the available policies for various sectors of the population such as PWD, LGBTQIA+, Indigenous, Marginalized community, budget utilization, Development progress which ultimately helps government to be a transparent, accountable government.
Access to and disclosure of information are vital for ensuring rule of law in the country. This may promote the supremacy of law as regarding the proactive disclosure of the information law has already mentioned the various categories of information that should be proactively disclosed every 3 months. The various provisions mentioned in the Act regarding the procedure for obtaining information by the citizens are yet another example that may make the public body responsible for disseminating the information as per Section 5 of the Act.
In conclusion, access to citizen information is crucial for democracy, good governance, and engagement of citizens with government activities. The Preamble of The Constitution of Nepal and Article 2 of the Constitution of Nepal clearly state that the sovereignty is vested in the Nepalese people. We do have the right to access all kinds of information other than the information required to be kept confidential by the law. This shows that the concerned authority has to publish the information so that all the citizens can have easy access to the information. Proactive disclosure is one of the elements of good governance as it promotes transparency, accountability and responsibility of the government and government entity. So promoting the proactive disclosure of information at the government entity must be prioritized by the stakeholders.
The government should prioritize strengthening proactive disclosure within its entities. Among the 14 municipalities examined, it appears that most do not effectively promote proactive disclosure, making it difficult for viewers to access information. A key objective should be to ensure that a dedicated tab for proactive disclosure is prominently displayed on the homepage, facilitating easier access. The roles of the Ministry of Communication, Information and Technology, the National Information Commission, and other relevant stakeholders are crucial in fostering proactive disclosure in Nepal.