Pakistan Today: Karachi: Wednesday,
March 15, 2017.
Following KP
and Punjab, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed the long-awaited Sindh
Transparency & Right to Information Bill 2016 veaving Balochistan as the
only federating unit without the legislation.
The bill aims
at ensuring access of every citizen to information under the control of public
authorities and also forming a Sindh Information Commission for dealing with
its matters.
The
commission will consist of three members: the chief information commissioner
and two others.
The head of
the commission will be a retired government official; not below BPS-20 and
would be appointed for a tenure of three years. Two other members would include
a lawyer, with some prior experience in the higher courts, while the other
member shall be a representative of the civil society, having an experience in
the field of academia and the concerned subjects. The commission will reserve
the right to take action against any officer who fails to deliver the
information sought. Failure in delivering the required information can result
in a penalty of Rs1 million or as high as 10 percent of their basic salaries.
The report of
the Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Bill, 2016, was presented in
the house by chairman of the 10-member committee, Senior Minister for
Parliamentary Affairs Nisar Ahmad Khuhro.
The bill which
will become an act with its assent by the governor will repeal The Sindh
Freedom of Information Act 2006. The act will provide every citizen
transparency and access to information under Article 19-A of the Constitution
in all matters of public importance, which are essential principles of
democracy. This will not only enable the populace to hold the government and
its institutions accountable but also help in improving the system of
governance.
Speaking on
the occasion, Nisar Khuhro termed the passage of the bill as a historical
event, and said that earlier accusations of bad governance, corruption and lack
of implementation on rules were hurled, but this bill would enable the common
citizen to have access to government affairs.
Khuhro said
the bill was adopted to hold the government and governmental bodies
accountable, adding that the legislation had empowered ordinary citizens by
giving them access to public information instead of empowering institutions.