RTI commission directs Presidential Secretariat to disclose details of vehicles

warns to take legal action if it fails to comply

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda   

The Right to Information (RTI) Commission has directed the Presidential Secretariat to release information relating to the vehicle registration numbers of vehicles handed over to the Secretariat following the conclusion of the tenure of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, as well as the names of the Ministries and Departments to which these vehicles were subsequently allocated.   

The RTI Commission directed the Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, and the Information Officer of the Presidential Secretariat to release the said information to the RTI Commission and the appellant on or before 31 January 2026.   

The RTI Commission further warned that if the public authority failed to comply with its decision, it would be compelled to institute legal action in the Magistrate’s Court in terms of Section 39 of the Right to Information Act.  

The Designated Officer of the Presidential Secretariat had earlier rejected a request made under the Right to Information Act seeking the registration details of 68 vehicles handed over to the Secretariat following the end of the former President’s tenure.   

The information request was made by freelance journalist Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi, who sought several details relating to vehicles handed over to the Presidential Secretariat after 23 September 2024, the date marking the end of the former President’s tenure. Among the information requested were the registration numbers of the 68 vehicles and the names of the Ministries and Departments to which they were later allocated.   

In a letter dated 2 January 2026, Designated Officer Prasanna Chandith, Senior Additional Secretary to the President, informed the freelance journalist and the RTI Commission that the requested information could not be disclosed. The refusal was issued under Section 5(1)(a) of the Right to Information Act on the grounds that the information sought constituted personal information and was therefore exempt from disclosure.   

In its decision, the RTI Commission, comprising Chairman Daya Lankapura and Commissioners Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, Jagath Liyana Arachchi, and Mohamed Nahiya, held that the rejection of information by the public authority under Section 5(1)(a) on the basis that the information sought related to personal information could not be accepted.