High Court on Sunday ruled that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICOM) has correctly decided that the government and the public-owned Bank of Maldives (BML) should disclose the salaries of its board members and senior employees.
Right to Information (RTI) activist Aiman Latheef had filed a complaint with ICOM regarding the salaries of directors and senior employees of BML. Earlier, when the bank was approached for the information, the bank refused to provide it. ICOM decided that the bank should disclose the information.
Challenging ICOM’s decision in the High Court, BML stated that the bank was wrongly declared a ‘state agency’ and Commissioner’s decision violates RTI Act.
Moreover, despite being deemed to be a state agency, the information sought should not be disclosed in the interest of the business of the company.
However, the judges held that since BML was a government-made company, it fell within the definition of a state agency mentioned in the RTI Act. The court also observed that the government has a majority stake in the company. Additionally, they also stated that while BML had the right not to disclose information that would be detrimental to business interests or financial interests, salaries cannot be held as a business secret.
