PESHAWAR: A meeting on Tuesday approved proposed amendments to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2013, to make it more comprehensive and accessible to people.

Special assistant to chief minister on information and higher education Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani chaired the meeting, according to a statement issued here. The meeting discussed the proposed amendments one by one and decided to send the same to the law department for vetting.

The proposed bill, a copy of which is available with Dawn, proposes to include registered organisations and the high court into the ambit of the RTI law for provision of any sort of requested information.

It also criminalises the provision of false information and those responsible will be fined and sentenced for two years.

The proposed amendments also bind the commission to initiate a case for filling the expected vacancies happening due to retirement of an information commissioner or chief commissioner within 120 days before the due date, and the government shall fill the vacancy within 30 days of the occurrence of the vacancy.

The proposed amendments suggest that the penalised person or body may file appeal before the high court within 60 days and the same shall also be disposed of within 60 days.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2016