NA speaker's ruling on employee records cannot restrict citizen's right to information, PIC rules

The Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) has ruled that the National Assembly speaker's classification of certain records cannot restrict citizens' right to information (RTI) unless the ruling provides reasons showing that the harm from disclosure outweighs the public interest. The ruling came while deciding two appeals filed by journalist Saddia Mazhar against the National Assembly Secretariat.

The National Assembly Secretariat had classified various records, including committee minutes, briefing material, working papers, and certain personal records of employees, under the speaker's ruling of October 4, 2022. The PIC held that the speaker could exercise powers under Section 7(f) of the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017, to classify such records.

However, the PIC stressed that such power was subject to statutory requirements and emphasized that the ruling does not contain reasons for the harm from disclosure outweighing the public interest, thus finding no legal basis to classify the records. The PIC also dismissed the secretariat's objections regarding the non-provision of the applicant's computerized national identity card and her non-appearance in person, declaring both grounds legally unsustainable under the Act.

Brief written by urgent.news from Dawn's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.