*Assistance Professor, Amity University, Noida
Research Scholar, Amity Institute of Advance Legal Studies, Amity University, Noida
Online published on 20 May, 2017.
In today's global world it is important for governments to be transparent than to be secretive. Hence Right to information is a panacea to corruption and mismanagement and an important guard against abuse, mismanagement and corruption. A new era of government transparency has arrived thanks to technological advances and more aware and vigilant masses. There are various international factors which have contributed to the spread of transparency laws in SAARC nations and around the world, which will be detailed in this research paper.
The basic function of freedom of information laws is to allow common citizen to get access to the information held by government bodies and public authorities, which is relevant for them for exploiting their rights in more effective manner. From 2002 to 2009 governments in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan etc. implemented these laws. This research paper will critically examine the Freedom of Information legislations in the SAARC nations. The purpose of the paper is to highlight the positives and negatives of the legislations and give a comparative analysis of the same. In many SAARC nations freedom of information laws are no more than a dormant law hence this paper will throw light on how these laws can be strengthened by active participation of civil societies and media. The right to information has also been used less dramatically, but no less importantly, to ensure an efficient flow of information between government and populaces. A comparative analysis of functioning of Freedom of information system in SAARC nations will also detail; the lacunas at implementation level and possible changes with suggestions for improvement.
SAARC, legislation, corruption, exceptions, transparency, governance, implementation
