Updated: Sunday December 01, 2013/AlAhad
Muharram 28, 1435/Ravivara
Agrahayana 10, 1935, at 12:06:18 AM
The
(IV of 2013)
[4th October, 2013]
AN
ORDINANCE
to provide for transparency and freedom of
information in the
Whereas it is expedient to provide for transparency
and freedom of information to ensure that citizens have improved access to
public information; to make the Government more accountable to citizens;
to enforce the fundamental right of access
to information in all matters of public importance;
and, to provide for ancillary matters;
And whereas the Provincial Assembly of
Punjab is not in session and Governor of the
Now, therefore , in exercise of the powers
conferred under clause (1) of Article 128 of the Constitution of the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan, Governor of the Punjab is pleased to make and promulgate
the following Ordinance:---
1. Short title, extent and commencement.–(1)
This Ordinance may be cited as the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information
Ordinance, 2013.
(2) It extends to the whole of the
(3) It shall come into force at once.
2. Definitions.– In this Ordinance:---
(a) “applicant” means a citizen of
(b) “Commission” means Punjab Information
Commission established under this Ordinance;
(c) “Commissioner” means an Information
Commissioner and includes the Chief Information Commissioner;
(d) “complaint” means a complaint made, in
writing, to the Commission by an applicant on one or more of the following
grounds:---
(i) wrongful denial of access to information;
(ii) non provision of information within the
stipulated time;
(iii) refusal to receive and process the
request from an applicant;
(iv) furnishing false, misleading or
incomplete information;
(v) charging fee or cost for provision of
information in excess of the requisite fee;
(vi) deliberate destruction of information
to avoid its disclosure;
(vii) failure of a public body to implement
the provisions regarding proactive disclosure; or
(viii) violation of any other provision of
the Ordinance by a public body;
(e) “Government” means Government of the
(f) “information” means any information
relating to a public body’s constitution, structure and official activities and
includes any memo, book, design, map, contract, representation, pamphlet,
brochure, order, notification, document, plans, letter, report, accounts
statement, project proposal, photograph, audio, video, drawing, film, any
instrument prepared through electronic process, machine-readable documents and
any other documentary material regardless of its physical form or
characteristics;
(g) “prescribed” means prescribed by the
rules or regulations made under the Ordinance;
(h) “public body” means:---
(i) a department, attached department,
autonomous or semi-autonomous body of the Government, a company of the Government
or a special institution;
(ii) a local government constituted under
the Punjab Local Act 2013 (XVIII of 2013) or any other law for the time being
in force;
(iii) Secretariat of Governor of the
(iv) any court, tribunal, office, Board,
Commission, Council, or other body substantially financed by the Government;
(v) Provincial Assembly of the
(vi) a statutory body established under a
provincial law; and
(vii) anon-government organization
substantially financed by the Government or a local government;
(i) “public information officer” means a
public information officer designated under section 7 of the Ordinance; and
(j) “right to information” means the right
to obtain information accessible under the Ordinance and includes the right to:---
(i) inspect any work or document;
(ii) take notes, extracts or certified copy
of a document;
(iii) take certified sample of any material;
and
(iv) obtain copy of information in
electronic form.
3. Access to information.– Subject to the
provisions of this Ordinance, an applicant may, in the prescribed manner,
exercise the right to information.
4. Proactive disclosure.– Subject to the
provisions of this Ordinance, a public body shall proactively disclose:---
(a) particulars of the public body, its
functions and duties;
(b) powers and functions of its officers and
employees;
(c) norms and criteria set by the public
body for the discharge of its functions;
(d) Acts, Ordinances, rules, regulations,
notifications, circulars and other legal instruments being enforced, issued or
used by the public body in the discharge of its functions;
(e) a statement of categories of information
being held by the public body;
(f) a description of its decision-making
processes and any opportunities for the public to provide input into or be
consulted about decisions;
(g) a directory of its officers and
employees with their respective remuneration, perks and privileges;
(h) budget of the public body including
details of all proposed and actual expenditures;
(i) the amount of subsidy and details of
beneficiaries if the public body provides any subsidy;
(j) particulars of the recipients of
concessions, permits or authorizations granted by the public body;
(k) facilities available with the public
body for obtaining information held by it;
(l) name, designation and other particulars
of the public information officer of the public body; and
(m) any other information that the
Government may notify in the official Gazette.
5.
(2) The Commission shall consist of not more
than three Information Commissioners to be appointed from amongst the
following:---
(a) a person who has been or is qualified to
be a Judge of the High Court;
(b) a person who is or has been in the
service of
(c) a person from civil society having
experience of not less than fifteen years in the field of mass communication,
academic or right to information.
(3) The Government shall, on such terms and
conditions as may be prescribed and until so prescribed as are determined by
the Government, appoint the Commissioners.
(4) The Government shall nominate one of the
Commissioners as Chief Information Commissioner who shall be the chief
executive of the Commission.
(5) No person shall be appointed as
Commissioner if he is more than sixty five years of age on the date of
appointment.
(6) A Commissioner shall hold office for a
non-renewable term of three years.
(7) A Commissioner shall not hold any other
public office or any other office of profit or be connected with any political
party and shall not engage himself in any business or profession during the
period he holds office of the Commissioner.
(8) Subject to subsections (9), (10) and
(11), a Commissioner shall be liable to removal on grounds of misconduct or
physical or mental incapacity.
(9) Before removing a Commissioner, the
Government shall communicate the charges to the Commissioner and afford him
reasonable opportunity to explain his position.
(10) If the Government is not satisfied with
the defence offered, it may refer the case to Provincial Assembly of the
(11) If the Committee finds the Commissioner
guilty of any of the charges mentioned in subsection (8), the Government shall
remove the Commissioner.
(12) If Provincial Assembly of the
6. Functions of the Commission.– (1) The
Commission may:---
(a) conduct an inquiry, on its own accord or
on a complaint, and may direct a public body to disclose information to an
applicant or in a proactive manner;
(b) determine the public interest in terms
of section 13;
(c) resolve any inconsistencies in the
application of the provisions of this Ordinance or the rules or regulations.
(2) The Commission shall decide a complaint
within thirty days of its receipt or, for good reasons to be recorded in
writing, within sixty days.
(3) The Commission may exercise the powers
of a civil court to:---
(a) summon and enforce attendance of
persons, compel them to give oral or written evidence on oath and to produce
documents or information;
(b) examine and inspect information;
(c) receive evidence on affidavits;
(d) requisition information from any office;
and
(e) issue summons for witnesses or
documents.
(4) While inquiring into a complaint, the
Commission or any person authorized by the Commission, may examine any
information on spot.
(5) The Commission may, while deciding a
complaint, impose such fine on a public information officer and in such manner
as may be prescribed.
(6) The Commission shall facilitate the
application of the provisions of this Ordinance and may:---
(a) issue directives to public bodies for
preservation, management,
publication, publicity and access to
information;
(b) prescribe the procedure for accessing
information from a public body;
(c) advise and provide support to the
Government to make necessary laws and procedures for implementation of the
right to information;
(d) provide technical and other support to
the public bodies for effective enforcement of right to information;
(e) establish an information web-portal;
(f) compile a user hand book in Urdu and
English, containing such information in easily comprehensible form and manner,
as many reasonably be required by an applicant; and
(g) compile guidelines for use by the public
information officers.
(7) The Commission shall prepare an annual
report on the implementation of the provisions of this Ordinance during a
financial year and submit it to the Government by 31 August and the Government
shall lay the report before Provincial Assembly of the
(8) The annual report of the Commission
shall, in particular, contain the following information:---
(a) status of freedom of information law,
rules, regulations and procedures;
(b) progress on implementation of the
freedom of information law, including district and department-wise summaries of
information requests showing current status of each information request;
(c) hurdles being faced in the
implementation of freedom of information law; and
(d) budget, expenses and other
organizational matters.
7.
Designation of public information officers.–(1) A public body shall,
within sixty days of the commencement of this Ordinance, designate and notify
as many officers as public information officers in all administrative units or
offices under it, as may be necessary.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Ordinance,
a public information officer shall provide information to an applicant, and
shall perform such other functions as may be prescribed to achieve the purpose
of this Ordinance.
(3)
The public information officer may seek necessary assistance of any other
officer of the public body.
(4)
Any officer whose assistance has been sought under subsection (3) shall render
all assistance to the public information officer seeking his assistance and for
purposes of any contravention of the provisions of this Ordinance, such other
officer shall be deemed as public information officer.
8.
Maintenance and indexing of information.–(1) Subject to provisions of
this Ordinance and the rules or regulations, a public body shall maintain
information relating to the body in an easily accessible form.
(2) A
public body shall, within the time prescribed by the Commission for any special
or general categories of information, computerize or maintain in electronic
form the information to enable:---
(a)
easy retrieval of information; and
(b)
easy and authorized electronic access of information by an applicant.
9. Annual report of public bodies.–A public
body shall publish in electronic form or otherwise an annual report of its
activities during the previous financial year by 31st August each year in such
manner as may be prescribed and make the report available for public inspection
free of charge and for purchase at a reasonable cost.
10. Application procedure.–(1) An applicant
may make an application to a public information officer on an Information
Request Form or on plain paper.
(2) The public body shall make easily
available to the public the Request Form both in printed and electronic form.
(3)
An applicant shall not be required to provide reasons for request for
information and shall only be required to provide an adequate description of
the information and the details necessary to provide the requisite information.
(4)
Where an applicant is having difficulty making a request, including
because he cannot describe the information in sufficient detail or because he
is disabled or illiterate, the concerned
public information officer shall provide reasonable assistance to the
applicant.
(5)
Where an applicant has indicated a preferred form of access, including a
physical copy, an electronic copy or an opportunity to inspect documents, the
public body shall provide access in that form unless doing so is likely to
interfere with its operations or harm the document and in that case the
information shall be provided in such form as may serve the purpose.(6) The public body shall not charge any fee for
making a request other than cost of reproducing or sending the information in
accordance with a centrally set schedule of costs stipulated by the Commission.
(7) The public information officer shall
respond to an application as soon as possible and in any case within fourteen
working days, provided that this may be extended by a maximum of a further
fourteen working days where this is necessary, including because the request
requires a search through a large number of records or consultation with a
third party or any other public body, but the public information officer shall provide the information relating to
life or liberty of a person within two working days of the receipt of the application.
(8)
Where the public information officer decides not to provide the
information, he shall intimate to the applicant the reasons for such decision
along with a statement that the applicant may file an internal review or a
complaint against the refusal under this Ordinance.
(9)
The information from, or the copy of, any public record supplied to the
applicant under subsection (1) shall contain a certificate at the foot thereof
that the information is correct or the copy is a true copy of such public
record, and such certificate shall be dated, signed and stamped by the public
information officer.
11.
Transfer of application.–(1) Where an officer of a public body other
than the concerned public information officer receives an application for access
to information, such officer shall immediately transfer the application to the
concerned public information officer under intimation to the applicant and the
public information officer shall process the application as if he had received
it under section 10.
(2) If the information or part of the
information requested in an application is not available with the public body
or the office of the public body, the public information officer shall, within
seven days and under intimation to the applicant, transfer the application to
the public information officer to whom the application should have been made
for provision of the information or part of the information.
(3) If the public information officer does
not know the public body or the office where the requested information or part
of the information may be available, he shall inform the applicant that the
requested information or part of the information is not available with the
public body.
(4) If an application is transferred to
another public information officer under subsection (2), the other public
information officer shall process the application as if the other public
information officer received the application under section 10.
12. Internal review.–(1) If an applicant
does not file a complaint with the Commission, he may request the head of the
public body for internal review of any decision of the public information
officer in relation to what the applicant regards as involving:---
(a) a failure by the public information
officer to comply with any provision of this Ordinance including failure to
communicate decision within the specified time; or
(b) unreasonable behaviour by the public
information officer in the exercise of any discretion under the Ordinance; or
(c) provision of incomplete, misleading or
false information under the Ordinance; or
(d) any other matter relating to requesting
or obtaining access to information.
(2) An applicant shall, within sixty days
from the date of communication of the decision of the public information
officer or failure of the public information officer to provide information
within the stipulated time, submit a request, in writing, under subsection (1)
and specify remedy which the applicant seeks against the decision of the public
information officer.(3) The officer before whom an application for internal
review is filed under this section may exercise any of the powers of the public
information officer under this Ordinance and shall, within fourteen days of the
receipt of the application:---
(a) confirm, modify or reverse the decision
of the public information officer;
(b) notify the decision of internal review
to the applicant including reasons for the decision; and
(c) order departmental action against the
public information officer if found negligent in performance of duties under
this Ordinance.
13. Exceptions.–(1) A public information
officer may refuse an application for access to information where disclosure of
the information shall or is likely to cause harm to:---
(a) national defence or security, public order
or international relations of
(b) a
legitimate privacy interest, unless the person concerned has consented to
disclosure of the information;
(c)
the protection of legally privileged information or of the rules
relating to breach of confidence;
(d)
the legitimate commercial interests of a public body or a third party, including
information subject to third party intellectual property rights;
(e)
the life, health or safety of any person;
(f)
the prevention or detection of crime, the apprehension or prosecution of
offenders, or the administration of justice;
(g)
the ability of the Government to manage the economy; or
(h)
the effective formulation of or success of a policy either by its
premature disclosure or by restraining the free and frank provision of advice
within the Government.
(2)
Notwithstanding anything contained in subsection (1), if the Commission
determines that the public interest in such disclosure outweighs the harm that
shall or is likely to be caused by such disclosure, it may direct the public
information officer to provide the information.
(3)
Where a part of a document is covered by an exception in subsection (1),
any information in the document which is not covered by an exception shall be
disclosed if it is reasonably severable from the rest of the document.
(4) Where the information is refused, the
public information officer shall, within the time-limit specified under section
10, inform the applicant specifying:---
(a) the reasons on account of which and the
provision of this Ordinance under which the requested information is refused;
(b)
procedure for internal review or complaint against the decision; and
(c) name and designation of the person who
may provide full or limited access to the exempted information.
14. Allocation of funds.- The Government
shall allocate adequate funds to the Commission to enable it to establish a secretariat, hire the
requisite staff to conduct its business properly, and promote access to
information among the public, public servants and civil society.
15. Offence.–In addition to any other action
under any other law, any person who destroys a record which at the time it was
destroyed was the subject of an application for access to information, internal
review or complaint, or otherwise obstructs access to information which is the
subject of an application, internal review or complaint, with the intention of
preventing its disclosure under this Ordinance, commits an offence punishable
with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine or with
both.
16.
Cognizance for offence under this Ordinance.–A court shall not take
cognizance of the offence punishable under this Ordinance except on a report in
writing of the facts constituting such offence made with the previous sanction
of the Commission or an officer authorized by the Commission.
17. Bar of suits etc.– A court shall not
entertain a suit, application or other proceeding in respect of any decision
made under this Ordinance and the decision shall not be called in question
otherwise than by way of an internal review or a complaint under the Ordinance.
18.
Power to make rules.–(1) The Government, in consultation with the
Commission and by notification in the official Gazette, may make rules for
carrying out the purposes of this Ordinance.
(2)
The rules shall also provide elaboration of the following provisions of
this Ordinance:---
(a)
procedure for proper maintenance, indexing and storage of information,
including details of information to be published in an electronic form;
(b)
procedure for filing of request for information and a schedule of the
costs for providing the information;
(c)
applications handling and internal review mechanisms;
(d)
information that shall be included in the annual report of each public body;
(e)
procedure for publishing, displaying and obtaining the annual report;
(f)
designation of public information officers, and if required, any other
official delegates, and their duties and responsibilities;
(g)
procedure for removal of a Commissioner, including definition of
misconduct;
(h)
finances, budgeting and staffing related to the Commission and its secretariat;
(i)
responsibilities of Commissioners, mechanism for taking decisions,
quorum requirements and procedures in case of non-availability of one or more
Commissioners;
(j)
provisions regarding imposition of penalties or fines; and
(k)
any fees that may be charged by a public body in carrying out the provisions
of this Ordinance.
19.
Power to frame regulations.–Subject to this Ordinance and the rules, the
Commission may, by notification, frame regulations to give effect to the
provisions of the Ordinance and the rules.
20. Power to remove difficulties.–If any
difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Ordinance, the
Government may, by order in the official Gazette, make such provisions not
inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance as appear to it to be
necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty.
21. Interpretation.-This Ordinance, the
rules and regulations shall be interpreted so as to advance the purposes of
this Ordinance and to facilitate and encourage, promptly and at the lowest
reasonable cost, the disclosure of information and effective implementation of
right to information.
22. Indemnity.–No suit, prosecution or other
legal proceedings shall lie against any person for anything which is done in
good faith or intended to be done in pursuance of this Ordinance or any rules
or regulations made under the Ordinance.
23. Ordinance to take precedence over other
laws.–The provisions of this Ordinance shall take precedence over the
provisions of any other law.
Go to Index
| LL. B. – I | LL. B. – II
| LL. B. – III | LL. B.
Directory | Home