Right to Information Act 2016 · As enacted · Part V · Appointment of Information Officers and Procedure for Gaining Access to Information
25. Decision on requests submitted under section 24
Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.
Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged
An information officer shall, as expeditiously as possible and in any case within fourteen working days of the receipt of a request under section 24, make a decision either to provide the information requested for on the payment of a fee determined in accordance with the fee schedule referred to in section 14(e) or to reject the request on any one or more of the grounds referred to in section 5 of this Act, and shall forthwith communicate such decision to the citizen who made the request.
Where a decision is made to provide the information requested for, access to such information shall be granted within fourteen days of arriving at such decision.
Where the request for information concerns the life and personal liberty of the citizen, the response to it shall be made within forty-eight hours of the receipt of the request.
Notwithstanding the requirement made for the payment of a fee under subsection (1), the Commission may specify the circumstances in which information may be provided by an information officer, without the payment of a fee.
The period of fourteen days referred to in subsection (2) for providing access to information may be extended for a further period of not more than twenty one days where-
the request is for a large number of records and providing the information within fourteen days would unreasonably interfere with the activities of the public authority concerned; or
the request requires a search for records in, or collection of records from, an office of the public authority not situated in the same city, town or location as the office of the information officer that cannot reasonably be completed within the fourteen days.
Where a period for providing information is to be extended for any of the circumstances referred to in subsection (5), the information officer shall, as soon as reasonably possible, but in any case within fourteen days, notify the citizen concerned of such fact giving the following reasons:–
the period of the extension; and
reasons for the extension.
A citizen who is dissatisfied with the reasons given under subsection (6) may lodge an appeal with the designated officer.