PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary to inform it about the reason(s) for a long delay in the appointment of two information commissioners in the province under the law on right to information.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Mohammad Attique Shah and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal fixed April 30 for the next hearing into a petition filed by former information commissioner of Punjab Mukhtar Ahmad Ali for the speedy process to fill the two vacancies.

It directed assistant advocate general Bilal Khan, who represented the provincial government, to get information from the chief secretary about the appointment of the members and information commissioner of the Right to Information Commission and produce it on the next hearing.

The petitioner, who is the executive director of the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), has sought the court’s orders for the government to expedite the appointment of those information commissioners in accordance with Section 24(4) of the KP Right to Information Act, 2013.

Petition seeks early filling of two vacancies

He requested the bench to declare the failure to appoint the information commissioners and the resulting incomplete status of the KP Information Commission a breach of the statutory duty on part of authorities and a violation of the KPRTI Act and Article 19-A of the Constitution.

The lone respondent in the petition is the KP government through its chief secretary.

The petitioner appeared in person and said that for over 20 years, he had been actively advocating for people’s right to information.

He contended that the right to information had been people’s fundamental right since 2010 when Article 19-A was inserted in the Constitution, providing every citizen with the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed by law.

The petitioner said the KP RTI Act was notified on Nov 5, 2013, while the KP Information Commission was established in 2013.

He said the provincial government had appointed Farah Hamid Khan as the chief information commissioner on July 15, 2022.

Mr Mukhtar said that the posts of two information commissioners had been lying vacant since Nov 18, 2019, and July 14, 2022.

Referring to different provisions of the law, the petitioner said that the right to information commission was designated as the key entity responsible for adjudicating on matters related to people’s right to access information held by public bodies.

He pointed out that through multiple letters and public statements, he had repeatedly urged the KP government and other senior office holders to appoint the two information commissioners, but in vain.

The petitioner contended that the failure of authorities to appoint two members led to an incomplete information commission in the province.

He added that that deficiency had led to the backlog of 1567 complaints filed by people against public bodies, as per the data that was available on the website of the commission on Feb 19, 2024.

The petitioner said the current state of the information commission amid vacancies and pending complaints stopped people from exercising their constitutional rights.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2024