Right to Information is considered as part of fundamental rights.

Every citizen has freedom of

speech and expression. The Supreme Court of India said(1976), “People are the masters.
Therefore, the masters have a right to know how the governments, meant to serve them, are
functioning.” Today's knowledge based world is now resonating with the call for meaningful
democracy backed by transparency and accountability in the state engine and peoples right of
access to information has gained a great importance. In a modern democratic state, the right
to information, more popularly described as the right to know, is an indispensable
prerequisite. There is no denying the fact that the notion of freedom of thought, of
conscience, of speech and rule of law become worthless if the people are deprived of access
to information.
As a former of the Government, if you went to any Government Department and told the
officer there, “RTI is my right, and that I am the master of this country. Therefore, please
show me all your files”, he would not do that. In all probability, he would throw you out of
his room. Therefore, we need a machinery or a process through which we can exercise this
right. Right to Information Act 2009, which became effective on on July 1, 2009 provides
that machinery. Therefore, Right to Information Act does not give us any new right. It simply
lays down the process on how to apply for information, where to apply, how much fees etc.
Freedom of Information has been gradually receiving acceptance and recognition all over the
world. This concept has also been recognised by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
In order to ensure the proper implementation and operation of the RTI, an Information
Commission was established on July 2 in 2009.
The significance of this act connects with the very truth underlying which is the political
system of Bangladesh – the democracy. According to Abraham Lincoln, ‘Democracy is of
the people, by the people, for the people’. Thus, in a democratic state it is the people who
hold the maximum power. The aim and objective of The RTI Act 2009 are to ensure the
accountability and transparency of the government, autonomous and statutory bodies, of the
national and international funded organizations, to decrease corruption and to increase good
governance along with financing.
The very constitution of the state has ensured the freedom of thought, speech and conscience
as a basic right for the people of Bangladesh. The RTI act successfully comes into being as
people must have the access to any information they demand, regardless of their profession,
age, gender, ethnicity etc. Under this basic statement, it is now to see whether the provisions
provided in the name of ‘right to information’ are strong and effective enough to ensure the
constitutional rights of the people.
The act, in a nutshell, is quite systematic and well-designed. The Information Commission
needs to be highly operative and observing to keep the authorities under check. Moreover, the
commission must have that independence to facilitate the constitutional rights without any
outer interference. The commission also has to be completely free from any kind of political
will or interest. Moreover, the weaknesses identified should be amended in near future
otherwise they would always grant corruption and manipulation a huge room. so a very
humble attempt has been made to analyse the enforcement of various constitutional and legal
provisions and judicial attitude to this important field of law. These provisions, if properly
implemented, will be very helpful in protecting democratic values and in achieving
constitutional goals.

Title: Implication of Right to Information as Human Rights

II
 Table of Contents
Sl. No. Description Page No.

1. Title page i

2. Letter of Transmittal ii

3 Declaration iii

4. Supervisor Certificate iv

5. Acknowledgement v

5. Table of Contents v

6. Abstract vi

Chapter: One

Introduction
Sl. No. Description Page No.
Chapter:1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Objectives of the Study
1.3 Scope of the Study
1.4 Methodology of the Study
1.5 Review of the Literature
1.6 Limitation of the Study
1.7 Conclusion
Chapter-2 HISTORICAL EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF
HUMAN RIGHTS
2.1 Human Rights
2.2 Human Rights as Inspiration and Empowerment
2.3 A Short History of Human Rights
2.4 The Birth of the United Nations
2.5 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

III
 2.6 The Human Rights Covenants
2.7 Subsequent Human Rights Documents
2.8 The Role of Nongovernment Organizations
2.9 The United Nations and Human Rights
Chatper-3 THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION AND IT’s SROPE IN
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
3.1 Instrumental and Intrinsic Rights
3.2 The Right to Freedom of Expression
3.3 The Right to Take Part in Public Affairs
3.4 The Right to Life
3.5 Economic and Social Rights
3.6 The Context in Which the Right May be Invoked
3.7 The Nature of the Information That May Be Sought
3.8 The Purpose for which Access May Be Sought
3.9 Consequences of Placing Limitations on the Right to Information
3.10 Concluding remarks
Chapte-4 PRACTICE IMPLEMENT OF THE RIGHTS TO
INFORMATION
4.1 Overview of Implementing Right to Information
4.2 Lessons from Better Performing
Countries
4.3 Challenges in Countries with Weaker Governance Environments
4.4 Conclusion
Chapter-5 NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF
BANGLADESH
5.1 Aim and objective of the Human Rights Commission
5.2 Contexts of National Human Rights Commission
5.3 Pre-Conditions for Effectiveness of the Commission
5.4 Main Features of the Human Rights Commission Act 2009
Composition of the Commission
5.5 Major Criticism of the Legal Framework
5.6 Main Challenges before the Commission

IV
 5.7 UN approach
5.8 Conclusion
Chapter-6 RIGHT TO INFORMATION AS A HUMAN RIGHT AND
DEVELOPMENTS IN BANGLADESH
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Constitutional position
6.3 Necessity of specific legislation
6.4 The Developments in Bangladesh
6.5 Problems with the Bangladeshi Law on RTI
6.6 Conclusion
Chapter-7 Recommendation and Conclusion
7.1 Findings
7.2 Recommendations
7.3 Conclusion

Bibliography --------------------------------------------------------------