Malé, Maldives – The High Court of Maldives has issued a verdict today, declaring that all State Owned Enterprises fall into the definition of state institutions, and hence, must abide by the Right to Information Act (RTI Act).
The civil issue, which was filed to the High Court by Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC), claimed that part (f) of section 67 of the RTI Regulation, violates part (a) of section 274 of the constitution of the Maldives and that of part (f) of section 72 of the RTI Act itself, which defines the meaning of state institutions.
As such, MTCC filed to dismiss part (f) of section 67 of the RTI Regulations, claiming that the specific part of the regulation was made by utilizing authority which was not granted to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICOM) by the Parliament of Maldives.
According to part (e) of section 72 of the RTI Act, a “State Institute shall include the executive, the legislative the judiciary, independent institutions, independent institutes, security services and councils elected under the Constitution. Also included are those bodies which take any State responsibilities, those functioning under the State budget and those receiving assistance from the State budget.”
While SOEs are not clearly mentioned in the Act, the RTI Regulation states that “State Institute shall include the executive, the Legislative, the judiciary, independent institutions, independent institutes, security services and councils elected under the Constitution. Also included are those bodies which take any State responsibilities, those functioning under the State budget, those receiving assistance from the State budget and also the State companies for the purpose of this Regulation.”
While the matter has been in dispute for years, with majority of SOEs refusing to disclose information under the RTI Act, the matter was settled today by the High Court of Maldives, with the verdict issued by Judge Mohamed Niyaz.
In the online hearing held at the High Court today, Judge Mohamed Niyaz declared that his opinion on the matter, which was supported by Judge Hussain Shaheed and Judge Mohamed Faisal, referred to several other laws of the Maldives, and specified that he is of the opinion that all State owned Enterprises must abide by the RTI Act.
However, Judge Shuaib Hussain Zakariyya and Judge Abdullah Hameed supported the opinion that the specific clause must be put an end to.
Despite this, with three presiding Judges in favor of the the regulation being within the bounds of law, it was decided that there is no room to dismiss part (f) of section 67 of the RTI Regulation, which mandates that all SOEs must abide by the RTI Act.
