January 19, Colombo (LNW): The Right to Information Commission has instructed the Presidential Secretariat to make public key details relating to a fleet of vehicles returned at the end of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s term, including their registration numbers and the state institutions to which they were later reassigned.
The order requires the Secretary to the President, Dr Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, along with the Secretariat’s Information Officer, to provide the requested information both to the Commission and to the applicant no later than January 31, 2026.
The Commission cautioned that failure to comply would leave it with no option but to pursue legal proceedings before the Magistrate’s Court under provisions of the Right to Information Act.
The directive follows an earlier refusal by the Presidential Secretariat to release details relating to 68 vehicles handed over after the former President vacated office. That decision was taken by the Secretariat’s Designated Officer, who rejected the request citing exemptions under the RTI Act.
The original application was submitted by freelance journalist Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi, who sought information on vehicles transferred to the Secretariat after September 23, 2024, the date marking the conclusion of the former President’s tenure. His request included registration numbers and the identities of the ministries or departments that later received the vehicles.
In correspondence dated January 02, 2026, Senior Additional Secretary to the President Prasanna Chandith informed both the applicant and the Commission that the information could not be released, arguing that it fell under the category of personal information protected from disclosure.
However, the RTI Commission rejected this interpretation. In its ruling, the panel chaired by Daya Lankapura, together with Commissioners Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, Jagath Liyana Arachchi and Mohamed Nahiya, determined that the data sought related to the use and allocation of public assets and could not reasonably be classified as personal information. The Commission concluded that withholding such details was inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the Right to Information Act, which is designed to promote transparency and accountability in public administration.
