The RTI Act was passed with a majority on December 13 2013, and the government signed it on December 16 2013.

Clause 5 of the Act states that a Public Information Commission (PIC) should be constituted. The PIC will frame rules and regulations in consultation with the Punjab government, and then make recommendations for the training of designated PIOs.

The government has appointed two information commissioners and the chief information commissioner on March 5. Justice (r) Mazhar Hussain Minhas was appointed as chief information commissioner, and Additional IG (r) Ahmed Raza Tahir and Mukhtar Ahmed, an NGO director, were appointed as information commissioners.

Tahir and Minhas joined the Punjab Information Department last week but have not been provided with offices, staff, or a budget. They said they had been asked to wait for further directions.

Mukhtar Ahmed said that the non serious attitude of the bureaucrats concerned had led to his delay in joining the department.

He told The Express Tribune that he would join immediately if he received indication that concrete work was to begin. He also said that he was working on another project at present.

Two months ago Punjab Information Secretary Momin Agha had told The Express Tribune that he could not disclose the names of designated officers at public bodies. Information Department Deputy Secretary Asad Ali Khan who looks after matters pertaining to the RTI told The Express Tribune last month that the government had designated 400 PIOs so far across the province but refused to disclose their names.

Clause 7 of the RTI Act only requires PIOs to be appointed in public bodies. However, it does not say what is to be done if a public body does not nominate a PIO.

Agha did not provide a comment on why PIOs had not been notified, and why the department concerned had not provided the information commissioners with offices, staff or a budget. Khan did not attend the phone.

Parliamentary Secretary for Information Rana Muhammad Arshad told The Express Tribune that it was the government’s objective to remove obstacles to public access to information.

He said that transparency was the motto of the government, which was why the assembly had passed the RTI. He said it was being obstructed at the bureaucratic end. He added that he would seek a report from the secretary concerned and inform Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in order to immediately implement the Act.

Express Tribune

The media group is constituted by the Development, Environment, Legal Aid, Technical Support and Advocacy Association (DELTA), which is holding consultations with stakeholders for better utilisation of the legislation.

The consultative meeting held at Peshawar Press Club (PPC) was attended by members of the media group and other journalists.

The participated of the meeting termed the Act a good piece of legislation. But, for getting maximum benefits from it, they called for launching a campaign in both print and electronic media for creation of awareness in the people. He said that awareness regarding the law would help decline the problems and complaints of people.

They further said that under Article 19-A of the Constitution of Pakistan, it is the fundamental right of all citizens to have access to information at federal and provincial levels. They termed the newly promulgated Right to Information Act (RTI Act) 2013 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government bold step towards bringing transparency to the province.

The meeting recommended that the commission to be constituted under the Act comprises representatives from the legal fraternity and civil society but does not have media representation. The media is the forefront in highlighting issues regarding corruption. Therefore, a representative from media must also be included in the Information Commission along with members.

It said that that lower courts as well as the high courts should not be exempted from application of the law. It is necessary that the judiciary, instead of treating it as ‘sacred cow’ is also made accountable, as per international practice.

Hence, an information cell should be crated within the courts to provide information through an information officer deputed to the cell by the government emulating the structure at the district level. Information pertaining to monetary matters of the judiciary cannot be sought from the courts, but from the department of law.

The RTI Act should also be copied and enacted at national level through national legislation. Similarly, the rights provided under the RTI Act, should b also provided to the residents of Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA, which can be accorded through extending the legislation to cover the area of FATA through a Presidential notification.

The Nation

Although a few negative amendments have been introduced in the KP’s RTI Act that were not part of it when promulgated in shape of the Ordinance, it is still far better than the draf federal legislation. KP Assembly’s move surprises lawmakers in Islamabad as PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar, the architect of the federal RTI bill, said a couple of days earlier that ‘he will see’ when KP Assembly succeeds in securing the passage of RTI bill, being touted as a model law.

He said this when told that sub-committee formed under his supervision to draft federal law should have tried to follow the KP legislation if they were unable to do it on their own. Now the provincial assembly has not only passed RTI Act it did so without changing the basic structure as envisaged in the ordinance. Disregarding the criticism that the federal RTI bill faces due to weak enforcement mechanism and too many exemptions for information otherwise considered public, Senator Babar told The News that the committee is “really proud of it.” As for as the negative amendments introduced in KP’s RTI Act are concerned the Coalition for Right to Information (CRTI) has also expressed its reservations.

A statement issued by Zahid Abdullah, CRTI coordinator, said the KP lawmakers have unnecessarily included provision pertaining to the punishment for the misuse of information acquired under this law. Section 28 (2) of RTI Act 2013 says: “Anyone who commits an offence under sub section (1), shall be liable to a fine not exceeding rupees fifty thousand (50,000) or imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years”. CRTI takes strong exception to the insertion of this section on the recommendation of select committee, the statement said.

Also, KP’s RTI Act 2013 does not include Peshawar High Court within the definition of public body, which needs to be changed. Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court, (PHC) is not only the top judge of the province but he also acts as administrative head of PHC and in this capacity is involved in making contracts, procurements from public funds and citizens have every right to know how these funds are being utilised, the CRTI statement said.

These two anomalies apart, the RTI Act 2013 envisages strong implementation mechanism in the shape of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa information commission.

The list of exempted information is narrowly and clearly drawn and the provision of harm test will ensure that even exempted information will have to be disclosed if its disclosure is in public interest. Among other amendments, for instance, the information commission that earlier comprised of four members has now been reduced to three by excluding a representative that was to be appointed by the Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court. Other composition stays intact as the chairman of the Commission will be appointed by the government. Peshawar High Court Bar Association will appoint a senior lawyer as the commission’s member and one member will be picked from the civil society having 15-year experience in this field.

The earlier legislation said the civil society member would be appointed by the Human Rights Commission but this condition has been removed in the newly passed law without explaining the selection procedure amid apprehensions that the provincial government wants to keep the power of appointment by controlling the commission through choosing two out of three members. Compared to the RTI Ordinance promulgated earlier that provided for the perks and privileges of the commission members equal to a high court judge, the RTI law passed by the KP assembly has made them equal to the remuneration of a BS-20 officer, an amendment that may discourage a competent lawyer to give up practice for joining the commission.

While the Ordinance had excluded the Peshawar High Court from the ambit of institutions bound to provide information, this exclusion stays in the law as well despite demands from RTI activists to remove this restriction.

The News