AG retracts High Court appeal against revealing political staff

The Attorney General Office on Monday withdrew its earlier appeal at the High Court to prevent the disclosure of the state's political appointees' details and salaries.

The issue started when a member of the public submitted a request under the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) seeking the details and salaries of all political employees under the current administration. However, the President's Office refused to provide the details, prompting the individual to appeal the matter at the Information Commissioner's Office (ICOM).

ICOM ruled that the information must be disclosed as it is not private information. Although a five day period was granted to the President's Office to provide the information, the office decided to withhold it.

After that, the Attorney General's Office appealed ICOM's decision at the High Court last Monday, in a bid to keep the information under wraps.

However, Attorney General Usham later posted on X that the office submitted a petition to the High Court seeking to withdraw the appeal. He also assured that the President's Office would provide the information to the original petitioner as ordered by ICOM.

The government also appealed against ICOM's decision to disclose the details of 248 political employees who were dismissed from various ministries.

ICOM ordered the President's Office to provide the information after Mihaaru and several others requested for it. However, the government went to court without giving the information within the deadline.

The President's Office sent a reply to the requests seeking the information refusing access to the information saying the Supreme Court had previously ruled that the names of the dismissed employees were personal information guaranteed by Article 24 of the Constitution.

The office said the names of the ministries and the positions and ranks of the political appointees in question could reveal their personal information, adding that the personal information of a third party could not be disclosed without the consent of that person.

Although the President's Office has withheld the names of the employees in view of a Supreme Court ruling some ministries had previously disclosed the details of their political employees under the RTI Act.