Enforcing the law: RTI Commission fines Haripur University PIO

The official failed to provide information to applicant

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Commission penalised the University of Haripur public information officer (PIO) for concealing information sought under the RTI act.

The commission issued an order in the case of Khurram Mehtab against PIO Aybak Khan. It decided the PIO, who is also the assistant registrar, would be charged Rs25,000 under Section-26(3)(b) of the K-P Right to Information Act, 2013.

The law states the fine should be handed to the complainant as “compensation”. The commission has written in its order the money should be paid to Khurram Mehtab.



Case and trial

According to the order, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, Mehtab sought information from Aybak on June 24, 2015.  The assistant registrar, however, did not provide the information in the stipulated time period defined by the law. Consequently, Mehtab approached the commission which issued a letter to the PIO on August 10, 2015 to provide the information. However, it was still not handed over to the applicant.

The commission then summoned both parties on October 29, 2015. Assistant Registrar Aybak stated a majority of the documents had been provided and asked for five days to hand over the remainder. However, he did not fulfil his commitment and the commission summoned him again on December 15, 2015. This time, he was issued a show-cause notice.

Aybak sent the information to the complainant on December 30, but the complainant was not satisfied with the response. For the third time, the PIO appeared for the commission and again undertook the responsibility of providing the documents.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th,  2016.