Salient Features of KPK Right to Information Ordinance, 2013 The promulgation of the ordinance is part of the institutions building actions under the reforms agenda of the present provincial government to guarantee accountability and transparency in public bodies and legislative framework for its charter of good governance. The law covers all 32 provincial subjects including Governor, Chief Minister Secretariats, Public Service Commission, KPK legislature, private bodies funded by government and private bodies providing public services and even lower judiciary to benefit the general public. An appellate tribunal would also be established with the name of Information Commission. The commission will be comprised of three members including a retired judge of Peshawar High Court, a lawyer and member of civil society as commissioners while a retired senior government servant would be Chief Information Commissioner. An applicant does not have to deposit any fee for submitting an information request. One can submit a hand-written application or send email queries to the head of concerned department (later to the Information Officer once designated). Information officers must help citizens in making requests without inquiring about the reason for requesting information. The concerned department is bound to provide information within ten working days. For matters of life and liberty, information must be provided within two working days. Punishment for officers denying/destroying requested information: Those deliberately refusing to disclose information, or destroying information subject to an RTI request, can be punished with a fine of up to Rs50,000; a prison sentence of up to two years, or both. Extensive proactive disclosure of information: This is the information that public bodies must publish. It includes details of the functions and services a public body provides; its organisational set-up; its staffing structure and the salaries, perks and privileges of senior officials. Clear and narrowly defined exemptions: Legitimate exemptions to RTI are specified in the law, e.g. information that would harm national security, the economy, legally privileged information. However, the KPK law also provides a harm test, whereby if the benefit in disclosure outweighs the harm, then even exempt information must be disclosed. There is no blanketed exemption for defence and other issues of national security. In case of denying information to any individual, the Information Commission would begin proceeding against the official concerned and the process would complete within a period of 60 days. The law also contains a special penal clause under which the denying officer could be punished that includes a fine of PKR 250 per day or maximum fine of PKR 25,000. Likewise, the officer responsible for intentional burning or destroying of concerned record could be awarded a punishment of two years imprisonment and fine of PKR 5,000. Whistleblower provision included to protect whistleblower from any legal, administrative or employment-related sanction that brings to light the internal wrongdoings in good faith and in the larger public interests. The RTI Ordinance is expected to be highly rated by global ranking organizations. Initial score is around 143 points out of a total of 150 points which is excellent as compared to Federal FOI Ordinance, 2002 scoring 66 points, India’s RTI at 130 points and Bangladesh’s RTI at 120 points.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 05:54:04 +0000
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