ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) has ruled that the National Assembly speaker’s decision to classify certain records cannot restrict citizens’ right to information (RTI) unless the ruling gives reasons showing that the harm from disclosure outweighs the public interest.

The PIC issued the ruling while deciding two appeals filed by journalist Saddia Mazhar against the NA Secretariat.

One of the appeals sought information about officers who had joined the NA Secretariat on deputation from January 2018 onwards, including their parent departments, grades, appointment dates, promotions and records relating to their induction into the secretariat.

The NA Secretariat had argued that minutes of meetings, official file notes and recommendations relating to the employees had been classified under the speaker’s ruling of Oct 4, 2022, issued under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.

The speaker’s ruling had declared various records, including committee minutes, briefing material, working papers and certain personal records of employees, as classified for the purposes of the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017.

The PIC held that the speaker, being the head of the National Assembly Secretariat, could exercise the powers under Section 7(f) of the Right of Access to Information Act, despite the provision specifically referring to the minister-in-charge of a public body.

However, the PIC stressed that such power was subject to the statutory requirements of the law.

“[The] ruling does not contain reasons as to why the harm from disclosure of information outweighs the public interest,” the PIC observed, concluding that it therefore could not operate to classify the records.

It further held that the speaker’s ruling was neither prospectively nor retrospectively operative because it failed to meet the legal criteria required for classification under Section 7(f) of the Act.

Regarding the employees’ records sought by the applicant, it noted that appointment and promotion notifications were already published in the official Gazette. It therefore found no legal basis for withholding the information.

The PIC also dismissed the secretariat’s preliminary objections regarding the non-provision of a copy of the applicant’s computerised national identity card (CNIC) and her non-appearance in person, declaring both grounds legally unsustainable under the Act.

It noted that information already published in the official Gazette or otherwise publicly accessible cannot be withheld.

The commission directed the NA’s deputy secretary, or a designated officer, to provide the applicant with a specific link to information available on the secretariat’s website and furnish certified copies of the remaining requested information, including Gazette-notified records, within 10 days of receiving the order.

The ruling also emphasised that the 2017 RTI Act takes precedence over inconsistent provisions contained in other laws under Section 25 of the Act.

In a 2025 policy brief, the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) noted that the RTI regime in Pakistan was stifled by institutional inertia and deep-rooted secrecy norms despite advanced legal provisions.

It had called for comprehensive legal reforms to strengthen the implementation of the RTI law.