Information commission orders PA to make details of MPAs accessible.

LAHORE -- The Punjab Information Commission (PIC) has denied the immunity to the Punjab Assembly (PA) from the law on right to information and ordered it to make the details relating to the performance and the funds allocated to the MPAs available on its website for easy access to the common citizens.

The commission passed the order dismissing an application by the public information officer (PIO) of the assembly claiming immunity against the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2013.

'We are concerned with a growing trend for quite some time that public bodies established under the Constitution have started claiming immunity from RTI law on the ground that they are constitutional bodies and their rules are also framed in exercise of powers conferred under the Constitution,' observes the PIC comprising Chief Information Commissioner Mahboob Qadir Shah and two information commissioners Shaukat Ali and Dr Arif Mushtaq Chaudhry.

Originally, a journalist from Sahiwal, Sadia Mazhar, had invoked the provisions of the RTI law and sought details about the seven MPAs of her district including their performance in the assembly, funds allocated to them, reimbursements and other allowances claimed by them since 2019.

On her application, the PIC had on Jan 23 ordered the provincial assembly to improve its website making the information regarding the MPAs easily accessible for the citizens.

However, the PIO of the assembly filed an application before the commission claiming immunity from the RTI law. The application argued that since the rules of procedure of the Punjab Assembly 1997 were framed in exercise of powers conferred under the Constitution, therefore, the said rules were supreme and shall take precedence over the...