Govt Urged to Appoint PIC Commissioners on Vacant Posts

Shazia Mehboob

Islamabad: Civil society and people from different walks of life have urged the federal government to appoint information commissioners at Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) as posts of the chief information commissioner and commissioner (legal) are lying vacant for the last two months.

Due to the vacant positions of commissioners, the PIC is unable to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities. The sources at the Commission informed that more than 700 appeals of citizens are pending with the Commission due to non-availability of Commissioners.

The Chief information commissioner and two other commissioners are responsible to hear the appeals at the PIC, but Chief Information Commissioner Muhammad Azam and one Information Commissioner Fawad Malik have been retired on November 7 while the third Information Commissioner Zahid Abdullah will be retired on November 17 this month.

There are more than 700 appeals pending at the Commission and these appeals will remain pending until the hiring of new information commissioners.  It is to mention here that the outgoing chief information commission wrote a letter to the Secretary Information and Broadcasting for starting the process of hiring on September 7 this year as it could take at least two months to fulfill the vacancies but process have not been initiated yet.

The Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) is an independent and autonomous enforcement body, established under Section 18 of the Right of Access to Information Act 2017 to ensure implementation of this Act. The PIC role is to establish mechanisms so that citizens of Pakistan can exercise their constitutional right of access to information in matters of public importance.

The Commission is also responsible to take steps for public awareness of the law, helps federal public bodies comply with the law, trains public information officers, monitors their performance, decides complaints and takes action against those failing to comply with the provisions of the Right of Access to Information Act 2017.

Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO), non-governmental organization based in Islamabad, Executive Director Kausar Abbas urged the federal government to fill the vacant posts of chief information commissioner and information commissioner seats of Pakistan Information Commission so that the institution can fulfill its constitutional responsibilities.

Syed Kausar Abbas said that under article 19 A, Right to Information is basic constitutional right of every citizen and with the vacant positions at the PIC, the appeals will remain pending, adding it will be violation of basic constitutional rights of citizen. He urged the government to urgently initiate the process of filling the vacant seats at PIC.

CPDI Executive Director Mukhtar Ahmed said the term of chief information commissioner and one information commissioner completed in the first week of this month, while the one remaining commissioner will complete his tenure in this week.

The government should have appointed new chief information commissioner and information commissioners prior to the completion of their, but it hasn’t, which means that the Commission will remain non-functional for some time, Mukhtar Ahmed added.

He said CPDI had drawn attention of the government for timely appointment through several letters, but it seems that the government has other priorities and people’s right to information is not high in the agenda.