Source: Blic
Rodoljub Sabic, Commissioner for Information
It is a fact well known that the Law on Free Access to Information does not recognize the situation categorized in some other proceedings as silence of administration and even treats it as a mere infringement. And yet, of more than 1,160 appeals on which the Commissioner for Information ruled in 2007, as many as 96 percent pertained exactly to such ignoring of requests. This means that only 4 percent of those who decided to deny the public its right enshrined in the Constitution and the law did so by passing a reasoned decision, i.e. in a manner which is, justified or otherwise, at least formally correct. It is hard to find a proper excuse for this.The fact that an overwhelming majority of them provided requested information upon Commissioner's intervention or order is small comfort. Guaranteed rights cannot depend on anyone's good will. Citizens' rights must at all times, even when they are restricted, be matched by strict obligations on behalf of the government. Ultimately, through their widespread practice of incorrect treatment of legitimate public requests, the authorities are in fact belittling the citizens. And given that it is these very citizens, who also happen to be their voters and taxpayers, that provide the government with the two indispensable requirements for its functioning - legitimacy and funding, there is no excuse for such situation, not only from the aspect of democratic principles, but of sheer human decency as well.
