RTI fails to deliver

Despite the provincial legislation mandating government departments to relay desired information to inquiring citizens, consistent delays in the data transferring process have tarnished the reputation of the legislation.

Passed in the provincial assembly and included in the fundamental rights section of the Constitution, the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013 (RTI) allowed any citizen to file a written request for obtaining relevant information from a concerned government department for personal or professional purposes, and in case the request was not answered within a 14 day time frame, the applicant was expected to directly contact the Punjab Information Commission for an expedited response.

However, even as 10 years have passed since the introduction of the law, the failure of bureaucrats to efficiently transfer information to awaiting journalists and activists has instilled discontent among members of the civil society, who question the outright violation of their right to departmental transparency.

“I have filed almost 15 applications to various government departments including the Metropolitan Corporation Lahore, Board of Revenue Punjab, and Health Department Punjab but have not received a single timely response from any of them,” complained Saba Chaudhry, a freelance journalist from Tehsil Shakargarh, who went on to claim that only the Deputy Commissioner of Narowal transferred the required information, that too after she contacted the Chief Information Commissioner after the passage of the 14 day regular response time frame.

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According to the results of a survey conducted by a local non-governmental organization (NGO) on the response time of four government departments, the police, health, education and the district administration, only 20 applications received responses within 14 days while 16 applications were handled after approaching the commission. Furthermore, out of a total of 194 applications, only 36 applications received responses.

In light of the data, the report concluded that the ratio of implementation of the RTI had been only 18 per cent for 36 districts in Punjab.

Where major flaws in the RTI system hamper the investigative efforts of journalists, lawyers and NGOs, ordinary citizens continue with their lives wholly unaware of the law and the procedure for obtaining information under it. Salma Rehman, a university student doubted the efficacy of the RTI since she was uncertain if any government officer would share sensitive departmental information with a common person.

“When a common person is not allowed to even enter a government office, how can we expect to be given confidential state information,” obliviously remarked Muhammad Azam Sajid, another local.

“There is a dire need to raise awareness among citizens on the RTI and how they as taxpayers have a right to demand departmental transparency,” urged Syed Kausar Abbas, Executive Director of a local NGO, who further added that the Information Commission must play a proactive role in implementing the RTI, in order to promote transparency.

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Abbas’ suggestion holds value given the fact that the Punjab Information Commission has consistently failed to penalize officers charged with malpractice over the past five years.

As documents obtained by The Express Tribune clearly show that the Punjab Information Commission had levied a fine of Rs50,000 on 22 government officials in the past for violating the RTI but could not obtain the fined amount from any of them.

Speaking to The Express Tribune on the inefficiency of the RTI system, Mehboob Qadir Shah, Punjab Information Commission’s Chief Commissioner, maintained that Punjab’s departments fared much better in terms of departmental transparency in comparison to other provinces. “Institutions funded by citizens’ taxes have been made transparent and accountable to them. So far, we have fined over 1000 officers for violating the RTI,” assured Shah.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2023.