Updated: Friday February 14, 2014/AlJumaa
Rabi' Thani 14, 1435/Sukravara
Magha 25, 1935, at 12:36:15 PM
The General Statistics Act, 1975
ACT LXIX OF 1975
An Act to constitute certain authorities for the
collection and co‑ordination of statistics to facilitate economic and
other planning
[Gazette of
The following Act of Parliament received the assent of
the President on the 17th November 1975, and is hereby published for general
information:‑--
Whereas it is expedient to constitute certain
authorities for the collection and co‑ordination of statistics to
facilitate economic and other planning and to provide for matters connected
therewith, or incidental thereto;
It is hereby enacted as follows,---
l. Short title, extent and commencement.‑(1)
This Act may be called the General Statistics Act, 1975.
(2) It extends to the whole of
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the
Federal Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint.
2. Definitions. In this Act, unless there is anything
repugnant in the subject or context,‑--
(a) “appropriate Government” means,---
(i) in relation to the Federal Statistics Authority or
any matter relating to the collection and compilation of statistics for the
whole of
(ii) in relation to a Provincial Statistics Authority
or any matter relating to the collection and compilation of statistics for a
Province or a part thereof the Provincial Government;
(b) “competent authority” means an authority or
officer appointed under section 6 to be a competent authority;
(c) “Council” means the National Statistical Council
or the Provincial Statistical Council constituted under section 3;
(d) “establishment” means a ahoy, commercial
establishment, industrial establishment, firm, company private dispensary,
maternity home, residential hotel, restaurant, eating house, cafe, cinema,
theatre, circus or other place of public amusement or entertainment and such
other establishments or class thereof as the Federal Government may, by
notification in the official Gazette, declare to be an establishment for the
purposes of this Act;
(e) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under
this Act;
(f) “statistical agent” means any agency, authority or
officer, appointed for, or engaged in, the collection of statistics under this
Act; and
(g) “Statistics Authority” means the Federal
Statistics Authority or a Provincial Statistics Authority appointed under
section 5.
3. Statistical Council.‑(1) For the whole of
Pakistan the Federal Government, and for a Province a Provincial Government,
may, by notification in the official Gazette, constitute a Council to be called
respectively the National Statistical Council and a Provincial Statistical
Council consisting of such members, including a Chairman, as it may appoint.
(2) The Chairman and members of the Council shall hold
office during the pleasure of, and on such terms and conditions as may be
determined by, the appropriate Government.
(3) The Council shall regulate its own procedure.
4. Functions of the Council. The following shall be
the functions of’ the Council, namely:‑--
(a) to co‑ordinate the functions of the
Statistics Authorities and competent authorities and to advise them as to the
ways and means of achieving efficient, adequate and prompt results;
(b) to approve of the priorities for filling gaps in
statistical data and,. for that purpose, to allocate functions to the
Statistics Authorities;
(c) to draw up schemes for avoiding duplication in the
formulation and execution of statistical programmes and to resolve differences
in that respect;
(d) to make competent advice and guidance available to
Statistics Authorities, competent authorities and statistical agents in the
matter of large-scale statistical operations and projects;
(e) to ensure economic and efficient utilization of field
services, machine tabulation equipment and other scarce resources;
(f) to promote research and training in statistics;
and
(g) to perform such other functions as the appropriate
Government may, from time to time, direct.
5. Statistics Authority.‑(1) For the whole of
Pakistan the Federal Government, and for a Province the Provincial Government,
may, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint an officer to be called
respectively the Federal Statistics Authority and the Provincial Statistics Authority.
(2) A Statistics Authority shall, in accordance with
such instructions as the Council may, from time to time give perform the
following functions, namely:‑--
(a) drawing up specific statistical programmes to
carry out the instructions of the Council;
(b) appraising the quality of all statistics of
national or regional importance;
(c) laying down and approving forms and procedure for
statistical ,enquiries and ensuring against any duplication and sub‑standard
data collection;
(d) standardization of concepts and definitions
relating to statistics;
(e) giving of advice and guidance to, and coordinating
the functions of, the competent authorities and the statistical agents;
(f) making of recommendations to the Council relating
to the standards .of training of statisticians and statistical agents;
(g) laying down the procedure for a continuing
programme of in-service institutional and foreign training;
(h) periodical review of statistical progress on the
basis of reports obtained from the competent authorities and the statistical
agents;
(i) giving of advice to the Federal Government, the
Provincial Government and other authorities or persons on the use and relevance
of available statistics in relation to specific problems of economic policy;
(j) identification of gaps in the National, Provincial
or Regional statistical series and submission for the consideration of the
Council of proposals relating to the order of priority in filling such gaps;
(k) appraisal and allocation of technical resources
required for statistical projects;
(1) compilation and publication of data of general
nature for national and international reference; and
(m) such other functions as the appropriate Government
may, from time to time, direct.
6. Competent Authority.‑(l) The appropriate
Government may, for the purpose of collection and compilation of statistics on
any matter, appoint .any authority or officer to be a competent authority for
the purposes of this Act.
(2) In the exercise of its powers and performance of its
functions under this Act, a competent authority shall be subject to the
superintendence, direction and control of the Statistics Authority appointed by
the same appropriate Government by which it has been appointed.
7. Statistical Agents. The appropriate Government,
and, if so empowered by the appropriate Government, a Statistics Authority and
a competent authority may, for the purpose of collection of statistics or
information under this Act, appoint or engage such officers or persons as it
may think fit.
8. Formulation of questionnaire, etc.‑(1) For
the purpose of collecting statistics on any matter, a Statistics Authority may,
by notification in the official Gazette, formulate such questionnaire as it may
think fit, and a competent authority or a statistical agent appointed for the
collection of such statistics may require any person within A3 jurisdiction to
give answers to such questionnaire and to such other questions relevant thereto
as may be necessary to elicit full answers to the questionnaire.
(2) Any person who is required to give answers to a
questionnaire and other relevant questions under subsection (1) shall ‘give
answers to the best of his knowledge and belief.
(3) Nothing in this section shall authorize a
Statistics Authority, a competent authority or a statistical agent;---
(a) to require woman to state the name of her husband
or deceased husband or any other person whose name she is by custom forbidden
to mention; or
(b) to insist on information of a purely private
nature.
9. Power to call for returns and Information. Without
prejudice to the provisions of section 8, a competent authority may, for the
purpose of collecting statistics for which it has been appointed, serve or
cause to be served on any person, by post or otherwise, a notice requiring him
to furnish to such authority or person in such manner, at such time or
intervals and in such form and with such particulars, such information or
returns as may be prescribed and a person served with such notice shall
accordingly furnish information or returns required thereby.
10. Right of access to record or document.‑(1) A
statistical agent shall, for the purpose of collection of statistics for which
he has been appointed, have access to any relevant record or document in the
possession of any person required to furnish information or return under
section 9 and may, at any reasonable time after due notice, enter any premises,
house, vessel or other place wherein he believes such record or document to be
and ask any person any questions necessary for obtaining any information
required to be furnished by such person.
(2) Every person owning or occupying any premises,
house, vessel or land shall allow a statistical agent such access thereto as he
may reasonably require for the purpose of collection of statistics for which he
has been appointed and shall allow him to paint on, affix to or dig in the
premises, house, vessel or land such letters, marks or objects as may be
necessary for such purpose.
11. Secrecy of answers, information and returns. All
answers to the questions received and all information and returns furnished
under this Act shall be confidential and shall not be,---
(a) used for any purpose other than compilation of
statistics under this Act;
(b) published in a form which may disclose the state
of affairs of any particular individual, firm or institution;
(c) divulged, except with the written consent of the
person answering the question or furnishing the information or return, to any
person not connected officially with the enquiry in relation to which the said
answers, information or returns have been called for;
(d) accessible to the inspection of any
person otherwise than for the purpose of prosecution for contravention of the
provisions of this Act; or
(e) disclosed to any person, or used or,
notwithstanding anything contained in the Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), be
admissible in evidence in any proceedings to which the person giving the answer
or furnishing the information or return is a party, except for the purpose of
prosecution for contravention of the provisions of this Act.
12. Penalty for refusal to answer questions, etc.‑Whoever,
after he has. been given due notice to answer any questionnaire or to furnish
any information or returns under this Act, willfully and without lawful excuse,
refuses or fails to answer, to the best of his knowledge and belief, such
questionnaire or other relevant questions asked of him by a statistical agent
which he is legally bound to answer, or to, furnish such information or
returns, within the period specified in the notice or within the period allowed
in a further notice which shall be given to him by the authority which gave him
the earlier notice, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to five
hundred rupees and, in the case of an establishment, with a further fine which
may extend to two hundred rupees for every day, after the first, during which
the offence continues.
13. Penalty for obstructing statistical agents, etc. Whoever,
refuses a statistical agent any right of access conferred by section 10 or
willfully obstructs him in the discharge of his duties under this Act or,
before the collection of information or statistics for which any letter, mark
or object was painted, affixed or dug on, to or in any premises, house, vessel
or land, or, without lawful authority, removes, obliterates, alters or damages
such letter, mark or object, shall be punishable,‑--
(a) in the case of an establishment, with imprisonment
for a term which, may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to
one thousand rupees, or with both; and
(b) in any other case, with fine which may extend to
five hundred rupees.
14. Penalty for giving or furnishing false answers,
information or returns. Whoever willfully gives a false answer to a
questionnaire or other relevant question or furnishes or cases to be furnished
any information or return which he knows to be false shall be punishable with
fine which may extend to one thousand rupees in the case of an establishment and
five hundred, rupees in any other case.
15. Penalty for improper disclosure of information,
etc. Whoever, being engaged for or in connection with the collection of
statistics under this Act, willfully discloses, otherwise than in the discharge
of his duties or for the purposes of prosecution for contravention of any of
the provision of this Act., any answer to a questionnaire, or any information
of the contents of any return, given or furnished under this Act, shall be
punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or
with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.
16. Prosecution under other laws. Nothing in this Act
shall be deemed to prevent any person from being prosecuted under any other law
for the time being in force for any act or omissions which constitutes an
offence under such other law.
17. Sanction for prosecution. No prosecution for an
offence under this Act, or for an act or omission which constitutes an offence
under any other law shall be instituted except with the previous sanction of
the appropriate Government or of a person authorised by it in this behalf.
18. Jurisdiction.
19. Act not to authorize collection of certain
Information or statistics.‑Nothing in this Act shall authorize the
collection of statistics or of any information relating to any work of defence,
arsenal, naval, military or air force establishment or any other defence factory,
installation or establishment.
20. Power to make rules. The appropriate Government
may make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
21. Power of Federal Statistics Authority to issue
directions. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time
being in force, which provides for the collection of statistics, the Federal
Statistics Authority may issue to any other authority functioning under any
such law such directions as it may consider necessary for the purposes of this
Act.
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