KARACHI:
The right to information law is meant to bring transparency into government bodies and empower citizens. However, the law appears to be ineffective because the Sindh Information Commission (SIC) has failed to respond to citizens’ requests. The SIC is a forum to lodge complaints against government departments that refuse to provide information. The commission is composed of a Chief Information Commissioner and two Information Commissioners. In January this year, I dispatched a right to information request to the commission. Under the Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2016, the commission was supposed to respond within 15 working days. However, almost two months have passed, and I have yet to receive a response.
Earlier this month, I called the SIC’s head office and was informed that the next hearing of the case has not been fixed as the Sindh government has yet to appoint an information commissioner. The SIC has been lying defunct since chief information commissioner Shahid Gulzar Sheikh retired after completing his term in May 2021. The other two positions for commissioners have also been vacant since May last year.
Although the Sindh government has allocated a significant amount of grants to the commission, the commission has failed to fulfil its purpose. The mismanagement, absence of officials, and lack of responses to the public reflect the non-serious attitude of the commission. To establish a culture of transparency, the Sindh government should urge the SIC to undertake its task in earnest, recruit adequate staff, and begin processing the public’s requests at its earliest.
Aftab Ahmed
Badin
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2022.
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