LAHORE, Feb 12: Bureaucrats in Punjab have finalised draft of the access to information law, also suggesting which piece could be shared with the public and which could not be while buying the idea that the threat of public scrutiny would also help them say “no” to the ‘unjust’ demands of politicians and other powerful quarters.

A final decision on which piece of information could be made public on demand and which should be withheld, however, been left to a cabinet committee.

At present, everything the government does is a secret, allowing the officials to hide even mega scams of misuse of authority or public funds in files which either ‘go missing’ or are tempered to avoid accountability at a later stage.

In the absence of public scrutiny, development projects, big or small, are conceived and launched without following government rules. Actions are often taken on verbal orders by those who matter, or on directives. Those resisting the breach or revealing such wrongdoings are considered enemies, and are “taken care of.”

Similarly misuse of perks and privileges like official residences, allowances, vehicles and fuel, remain hidden as ‘state secrets’ as there is no law to make government officials reveal such details to public.

Departmental audits are held and presented to accounts committees only under a democratic set up. But, in a majority of cases attempts are made to conceal such matters.

And the idea behind allowing the public an access to information through a law is all about making public functionaries perform strictly by the book, keeping proper records and holding those responsible for irregularities accountable.

Sources said the draft law has been finalised by the provincial information department, and forwarded for cabinet approval.

But the services and general administration department (S&GAD) is working on another stream. It has found that the draft law does not provide for the type of information that could (or should) not be made public.

It has sought opinion from all departments on the issue and decided to let the cabinet committee finalise the list of ‘no go areas’ in information domain. This has been done with the view that the departmental lists needed to be critically analysed by a third party.

“The list of items not to be made public will be included in the main law in the shape of a schedule. The decision to make the cabinet committee finalise it has been made to allow access to information without hurting the basic concept of the law,” a senior official said.

He, nevertheless, said that the schedule containing the type of information not to be made public would synchronise with the Officials Secret Act. “There is a need to conceal important information relating to national or internal security,” he said.