Bangladesh schedules information complaint hearings after nearly two-year pause

Bangladesh’s Information Commission plans to resume complaint hearings Nov. 16 after a pause lasting nearly two years, The Financial Express reported Oct. 26, citing United News of Bangladesh (UNB).

A commission press release said 920 complaints had been lodged during the interruption. The newly constituted body met Monday to review and scrutinize those complaints before hearings restart.

The government reconstituted the commission Oct. 17, appointing Nahreen Islam Khan, a professor in Jahangirnagar University’s geography and environment department, as chief information commissioner. Journalists SAM Mahfuzur Rahman and Khan Mohammad Abul Hossain were appointed information commissioners.

The meeting was the new commission’s first to address complaints filed under the Right to Information Act. The announced date sets a timetable for resuming hearings; it does not establish that the accumulated complaints have been resolved.