Delawar Jan
PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is planning
to run a campaign for raising awareness among the people about the
recently-promulgated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Ordinance 2013,
touted to be ranked 3rd best in the world.
The Ordinance makes its obligatory for 32 provincial
government departments to provide information to a requester, who could be any
citizen, and hands punishments to officials obstructing right to records or
destroying information.
The Ordinance that requires to be passed from the
provincial assembly within 90 days of its promulgation does not ask requesters to
justify request for the information.
“The Ordinance makes the request easier. The
requester does not need to fill out a prescribed form and only needs to demand
information on a simple paper,” said Secretary Information, Azmat Hanif
Orakzai, who was author of the draft at the first workshop on the Right to
Information (RTI) at Peshawar Press Club after its promulgation on August 13.
“If a person is illiterate, a designated public information officer is required
to write the application for the requester,” he said, adding the World Bank had
given 143 points to the law out of 150 that ranked it 3rd best in the world.
It is free of cost, under the Ordinance, to seek
information from any of the government department. “The request would also be
entertained through phone, email and mail,” Hanif Orakzai said.
Clause 2 of the 32-clause Ordinance says that the
law would cover secretariats of the chief minister and governor, secretariat of
the provincial assembly, members of the assembly and the assembly itself, any
office, board, commission, council or any other body established under the law
and any department or attached department of the government.
Subordinate judiciary, tribunals, any body which is
owned, controlled or substantially funded by one of the above, including
enterprises owned by the province and any other body which undertakes public
functions would be subject to RTI.
However, the RTI excludes Peshawar High Court from the
ambit of this law, which concerns civil society members working on RTI.
“The government will launch an awareness campaign to
ensure people in Dir, D.I. Khan, Hazara division and other remote districts
make use of it. We will translate the draft of the Ordinance into Urdu, hold
seminars and publish supplements in newspapers and involve media to propagate
it,” Hanif Orakzai said.
Under the Ordinance, any public body would be bound
to provide information in 10 days that could be extended to a maximum 20 days.
However, information that could protect the life or liberty of any individual should
be provided within two days.
Requester could appeal to the four-member ‘Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Information Commission’ if public body failed or refused to provide
information. A retired senior government official appointed by the government
would head the commission while a lawyer nominated by the Bar Council, a
retired judge appointed by the Chief Justice of PHC and a representative of the
civil society with nomination coming from Human Rights Commission would be its
members, known as commissioners.
The commission would dispose of the request within
60 days, with the proof of burden on public body. The commission enjoys the
powers of civil court and would be authorised to summon and enforce attendance
of witnesses and compel them to give oral or written evidence under oath. The
only commission based in Peshawar could ask public bodies to produce documents and
could examine information.
Importantly, if the decision of the Information
Commission is not obeyed, it would constitute contempt of court. The commission
could also impose a daily fine of up to Rs.250 to a maximum of Rs.25,000 on any
official who willfully prevents or delays the disclosure of information to a
requester.
The chief information commissioner and commissioners
would be entitled to remuneration and other benefits equivalent to a judge of
the high court.
Clause 28 makes it an offense if access to
information is obstructed, information commission’s work interfered or record
without lawful authority is destroyed. The Ordinance also provides protection
to whistleblower, which many appreciate as extraordinary.
Aftab Alam, executive director of Institute for
Research, Advocacy and Development (IRADA), hailed the law as ‘a right step in
the right direction’ but said they had some concerns. As a matter of principle,
he said, RTI should not have been introduced through an ordinance but enacted
in the provincial assembly, where PTI had majority.
“Peshawar High Court should be brought under the
RTI, along with all other constitutional bodies. I think the definition of
‘public body’ needs to be broadened,” said Aftab Alam. “What about the
discretionary funds of the governor who is all and all of Fata?” he asked.
Aftab Alam pointed out the definition of the ‘requester’
was also flawed as a requester was only a citizen, excluding companies and
organisations.
He suggested the members of the Information
Commission should be appointed by a bi-partisan committee of the assembly, not
by other bodies and individuals. He said the fine on disobeying official should
be made proportionate to the officials’ salaries as value of the rupee would
decrease in coming years.
He appreciated that exemptions were specific but
crticised the “provided that” portion that contains six sub-section. “It could
be misused. I think the first para of clause 14 was sufficient,” he added. However,
Aftab Alam lauded protection to ‘whistleblower’ and said such protection was
rare in the world.
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