The official data and the research conducted by this correspondent indicate that the bureaucracy in KPK seems readier to share information regarding its working to the public as compared to its counterpart in Punjab despite the fact that the two provinces have enacted almost similar Right to Information Law early this year.

The data provided by the respective information commission of the two provinces show that over 400 complaints have been filed against various departments in Punjab for withholding information during last four months while in KPK only around 180 such complaints have been received in the last eight months.

This correspondent also sent similar information request to all districts of Punjab and KPK on the same date but the response from KPK was much faster and better in terms of information than that from Punjab. The request was sent to 19 districts of KPK on September 2, 2014 and until yesterday (Wednesday) five districts had already responded with the required information. In contrast, out of 35 districts of Punjab, only four had responded with the required information while one has snubbed this correspondent for making the information request.

The executive district officer (Health) of Lahore even summoned this correspondent to his office in response to an information request, in an illegal move depicting the typical secretive and authoritative mindset of the bureaucracy.

“You are requested to appear personally along with your original National Identity Card in this office on any working day for collection of the said information,” reads the response signed by EDO (Health) Lahore.

When contacted, the member of Punjab Information Commission (PIC) Mukhtar Ahmad Ali said the EDO had no right to summon a citizen over an information request indicating that the commission would proceed against the official after receiving a written complaint against his attitude.

According to data provided by PIC member, around 400 complaints have been received by the commission during last four months against the officials of the Punjab government who failed to provide information to the citizens under the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act (RTI) 2013.

“Under the law, the concerned department is bound to provide required information within 14 days of the filing request. Even if the information cannot be provided owing to some genuine reasons, the concerned department must give its response to the applicant within the stipulated time,” Mukhtar Ahmad said.

He said the culture of secrecy was still prevalent in the province but the commission was trying to create more awareness about the law through training workshops for officers of the various departments.

However, he said PIC was yet to get a proper office and budgetary allocation by the government.The situation is a lot better in KPK where the Right to Information Commission started working in December 2013. Talking to The News, the provincial Chief Information Commissioner Sahibzada Muhammad Khalid said the fist complaint against a KPK official for withholding information was received in February 2014.

“So far we have received 170 individual and seven group complaints against various officials of KP government for violation of KPK’s Right to Information Act 2013 and the commission have already disposed of 55 such complaints,” he said.

Khalid said the KPK Assembly must be commended for passing the RTI law as it had enabled the common citizen to access information regarding the working of the government. “This is something that I had not imagined happing during my life,” he said.The chief information commissioner said the law was playing a vital role in improving governance in the province as the officials knew that they were under public scrutiny.

He said in other countries several years were given for awareness campaigns before the implementation of RTI law but in KPK and Punjab, the law had been immediately implemented.

The News

This has raised questions about the establishment of the Punjab Information Commission (PIC), and the three information commissioners tasked with implementing the Act.

The Punjab Assembly passed the RTI Bill 2013 on December 13, 2013. The bill became an act after the governor approved it on December 16.

The information commissioners appointed on March 5, have reportedly been running from pillar to post to arrange offices for themselves so they can implement the Act.

The government appointed Additional Inspector General Ahmed Raza Tahir and Mukhtar Ahmad Ali as information commissioners, and Justice (r) Mazhar Hussain Minhas the chief information commissioner.

The appointments were made in line with clause five of the RTI Act 2013. The clause states that the PIC should have an office to start its operations, implement the act and frame rules under the Act.

Several government officials have revealed that the three commissioners are in quandary as they have no funds at their disposal to set up offices and implement the Act.

The notification of their appointment had been issued only to fulfil official procedures, said the officials. They said the commissioners had been asked to stay at home and keep drawing salaries until a further directive.

Officials requesting anonymity said that the information secretary had informed the three commissioners that a summary regarding the budget for the commission was pending with the Finance Department.

A senior government officer said that instead of empowering the PIC, the provincial government was relying on the Information Department.

“Allocating and approving budget is only a matter of two days. Six months have passed since the Act was introduced but the government has not allocated a single penny for the PIC. This shows that the commission is not the government’s priority,” the officer told The Express Tribune.

He said the chief minister was assisted by his Press Secretary Shoaib Bin Aziz, Information Secretary Momin Agha and Director General Public Relations Athar Ali Khan.

He said the government was delaying funds for the PIC on purpose.

The government has also violated clause 7 of the RTI Act 2013 which states a public body “shall within 60 days of the commencement of this Act designate and notify as many officers as public information officers in all administrative units or offices under it, as may be necessary”.

Currently, the government has notified only 50 public information officers for Lahore. Other districts in the province await appointment of information officers.

Momin Agha declined comment. He said he was busy at a meeting.

PML-N Parliamentary Secretary on Information Rana Arshad said that the party had always favoured transparency and merit. He said he would place the matter before the chief minister.

Mukhtar Ahmad Ali said 50 public information officers had been trained by the Management and Professional Development Department. They would serve in Lahore, he said.

He said officers from other districts would also be trained after the month of Ramazan. He admitted he had no staff to implement the Act.

Express Tribune

The Right to Information bill carried two amendments that differentiate it from the original act. Clause Five of the bill maintained: “Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, any information mentioned in subsection (1) may be disclosed by the Public information officer if the information is 50 years old but commission, in an appropriate case, extend this time period of 50 years to a further 20 years.”

Second, “where a public information officer or any other person has, without any reasonable cause, refused to receive an application, has not furnished information within time limits, or denied the request with mala fide or knowingly gave incorrect, incomplete or misleading information, the commission may, after providing sufficient opportunity of defense to the public information officer, direct the public information officer to pay fine not exceeding two days salary for each day of delay or to pay fine which may extend to fifty thousands (50,000) rupees.”

The assembly also passed Lahore Development Authority (amendment) Bill 2013, aimed at establishing a comprehensive system of metropolitan planning and development in order to improve the quality of life in the area of Lahore division and establish an integrated metropolitan and regional development authority.

The bill would also help evolve policies and plans relating to improving housing, industrial development, traffic, transportation, education, health, water supply, sewerage, drainage, solid waste disposal and other allied matters.

The Punjab Commission on Status of Women Bill 2013 was also on the agenda, which as per the bill, was aimed at empowering women, expansion of opportunities for their socio-economic growth and elimination of all forms of discrimination against them.

Other bills that were passed included the Punjab Weight and Measure (international system) Enforcement (amendment) Bill, the Punjab Workmen’s Compensation (amendment) Bill and the Employees’ Cost of Living (Relief) (amendment) Bill.

The four bills that were deferred till Friday sitting, which was called at 9am, included The Punjab Commission on Status of Women Bill, the Punjab Shops and Establishments (amendment) Bill, the Punjab Minimum Wages for Unskilled Workers (amendment) Bill and the Punjab Payment of Wages (amendment) Bill.

Earlier, the Opposition tried to force the House to take motion pertaining to stoppage of gas to the industry and the CNG sector out of turn, but in vain. Some speakers from the opposition, including Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed, pleaded the chair to suspend the routine business and discuss the impact of the stoppage, which according to them runs into billions of rupees and will result in unemployment of hundreds of thousands of people. However, the speaker, citing rules of business, asked the Opposition to go to the Business Advisory Committee of the House to get the motion included in the discussion.

DAWN

LAHORE: The Punjab government tabled and started debate on the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Bill 2013 in the provincial assembly on Wednesday to make compulsory for government departments to provide the demanded information within the next 14 working days to the citizens.

Under the proposed laws, a special commission would be formed by the name of the Punjab Information Commission (PIC) that would consist of three information commissioners equivalent to the public officer of grade 21.

The commission will be responsible for providing information to citizens directly when they submit any request in this regard.

One of the members of the commission will be equivalent to the judge of the high court and the second equivalent to grade 21 officer, while the third one will belong to the civil society, having more than 15 years of experience in his field with skills in mass communication.

The complainants could submit a request of information about any government department to the commission directly through its online service or a written application, and the commission will provide such information within 14 working days to the applicant.

The commission will gather the demanded information from the relevant department and the authorities of that department will be bound to provide accurate information regarding the request to the commission.

However, information related to national defence and security, public order and international relations of Pakistan will not be provided to the citizens.

After the bill was tabled, the opposition benches made hue and cry and strongly opposed it, and also pointed out the quorum three time. By the reason of lack of quorum, the chair pended debate on the bill until today (Thursday).

There are high chances that the bill will be passed today despite reservations of the opposition.

Deputy speaker Sardar Sher Ali Gorchani chaired the session on Wednesday that started one hour and 43 minutes late.

During the question hour, Minister for Forests, Fisheries and Wildlife Malik M Asif was given a warning by the chair after he gave unsatisfactory and contradictory answers to a question several times.

The speaker directed him to probe the issue and inform the House about the real situation after collecting the required information.

However, while answering to a question regarding permission to foreigners for hunting in Punjab, the minister said that foreigners were being allowed by the Foreign Office for their “hunting adventures” in Pakistan.

He said the office used to issue special permission to them, whereas the local people were not allowed to take part in such activities.

The minister said that such special permissions were issued to figures of brother Islamic countries alone.

“They were being issued visas for specific days and to hunt a hundred brides only,” he mentioned.

Meanwhile, treasury and opposition members disregarded his statement and said that foreigners used to stay for more than 20 days and they hunted countless birds.

Asif also informed the House that the proportion of forests’ land in the province did not meet international standards, as the area should at least have a forest cover of five per cent of its total geographical area.

Out of the total 50.956 million acre land, the province had forest on only 1.62 million acres (3.1 per cent).

He mentioned that in order to meet the international standards of having forests on at least five per cent of the land, the province would need a hefty amount of Rs 1 billion along with 600 cusecs of water, which according to him was an impossible task under the prevailing circumstances.

Pertaining to a question about transfer of 55 acres in Lodhran to a politician, the minister stated that the land was not delivered to a person but an organisation in 1981.

The minister also pledged that after enacting the Forest Act, 2010, the activities of the timber mafia had been reduced by 42 per cent.

Though he admitted that the illegal activity of timber theft was taking place with the connivance of some officials of the department.

He also informed the House that the government had banned felling of trees in Murree.

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, in his speech, claimed that the government was complying with the Supreme Court’s observations.

He appreciated that PML-N’s defence minister presented himself before the apex court when summoned.

Sanaullah termed Imran Khan as an unintelligent person for staging a sit-in protest in order to stop NATO supplies.

“By doing this, the PTI cannot stop drone strikes,” he underscored. PTI member Sadiq Khan walked out of the House after not being allowed to speaker on a point of order. He tried several times to speak on a point of order but the speaker did not allow him. Upon this, opposition leader Mehmoodur Rasheed also protested inside the House and asked the speaker to be unbiased towards the opposition members.

Treasury member Mian Aslam brought Sadiq Khan in the House again on the directives of the speaker.

Daily Times