Retired Supreme Court Justice Upaly Abeyratne has resigned with immediate effect from the Right to Information (RTI) Commission of Sri Lanka through a communication addressed to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Wednesday, March 4, 2025. He was the chairman of the commission.

The reasons for the resignation are publicly unknown.

Under Section 12(1) of the Right to Information Act (RTI Act), the RTI Commission shall consist of four commissioners and a chair appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. The Council shall recommend one commissioner as a nominee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) and two commissioners as nominees, respectively, of ‘organisations of publishers, editors and media persons’ and ‘civil society organisations.’ The remaining two appointments by the President are on the general recommendation of the Council.

The quorum for the meetings of the RTI Commission is three, with the President nominating the Chairperson. The commissioners have fixed tenure for five years, subject to resignation or removal by the President on the recommendation of the Council on specified grounds.

Currently the RTI Commission consists of Attorney-at-Law Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena (nominee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka), Attorney-at-Law Jagath Liyanarachchi (nominee of civil society organisations) and former public servant and one-time Zahira College Vice Principal A.M. Nahiya.

(sundaytimes.lk)
(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by sundaytimes.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)