The Nation: Islamabad: Wednesday,
March 15, 2017.
Senate Select
Committee on the Right to Information Bill 2016 Tuesday decided that the
“Whistle-blower Law” would not be made part of the Bill.
The Senate
Select Committee on RTI Bill 2016 met with its Chairman Senator Farhatullah
Babar in the chair at the Parliament House and discussed the Whistle-blower Law
in detail.
Farhatullah
was in favour to make the Whistle-blower Law a part of the RTI Bill but other
committee members, including Minister of State for Information Marriyum
Aurangzeb, Senator Pervaiz Rashid and PPP Senator Rubina Khalid showed
disagreement with the committee chairman in this regard.
Marriyum
Auranzaib said the Whistle-blower Law would not be made part of the RTI Bill
2016 because officials could use it against each another.
After the
meeting, Chairman Committee Farhatullah Babar told media that the RTI Bill 2016
will be tabled in next session of Senate for getting its approval.
Earlier, the
Senate Select Committee had approved the RTI Bill 2016. The committee had also
decided that the proposed Information Commission would consist of three
members, including a grade 22 officer, a retired judge and a representative of
civil society. The PM will have the authority of the appointment of three
members of the commission.
The Senate
and National Assembly Standing Committees will have the power to remove the
members. The commission members age limit has been capped at 65-year at the
time of appointment.
It was also
decided in the meeting that the RTI Bill 2016 will not be applied to 20 years
old record.
The committee
had decided the appointment of staff above grade 16 in Information Commission
would be made through Federal Public Service Commission, instead of Chief
Information Commissioner and Commissioners.
Later,
addressing international conference on Women Caucus Marriyum Aurangzeb said
Pakistan is vigorously pursuing Sustainable Development Goals in line with
Vision 2025 of the government.
The minister
said a secretariat has been established in the Parliament to achieve SDGs and
its units are working at the provincial level. She stressed the need for
creating awareness about social and development programmes. She said media is
being engaged to create awareness among masses. She said parliament, media, and
the civil society are collaborating to cope with the challenges of malnutrition
and health issues.
She said the
government has also signed agreements with UNICEF and other world bodies in the
areas of malnutrition, clean drinking water, health, education, climate change,
and waste management. The minister said parliamentarians are also actively
pursuing for SDGs.
She said
media has an important role to play in the field of SDGs and every TV channel
is bound to spend 10 per cent of its airtime on issues of human development.