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ISLAMABAD: The information commissioner has directed the telecom regulator, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), to share the details of telecommunication infrastructure provider licence (TIPL) with the state-owned telecom company Special Communications Organisation (SCO) by Aug 25.
The decision came on an appeal filed by an individual, Mohammad Ahmed, under the Right of Access to Information Act 2017, against the PTA while seeking details of licences granted to the SCO.
The PTA earlier turned down the request on the grounds that the applicant was affiliated with an internet service provider, Nayatel.
After hearings, Chief Information Commissioner Mohammad Azam ruled that it was even the right of a company under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to seek such public information, as the purpose of this law was to make the government more accountable to its people and improve participation by the public in public affairs, reduce corruption and inefficiencies in government to promote economic growth and good governance.
The SCO, working under the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom, was established in 1976 to develop, operate and maintain all telecom services in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The information commission directed the PTA to share the details including the minutes of the its meeting when the final decision was taken to grant Telecommunication Infrastructure Providers Licence to SCO in 2014, and the details of the final decision over the matter taken by the PTA in 2019.
“The minutes of the official meetings are exempted from disclosures under the RTI Act only if final decision has not taken on the issue being deliberated upon in the official meeting, once the final decision has been taken, the minutes of the meeting become public information, unless hit by any of the exempted clause of the RTI Act,” the order of the information commission said.
It added that the details sought from the PTA did not fall in the exempted category.
Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2022
