The News International: Islamabad: Wednesday,
November 28, 2018.
Federal Minister for Information and
Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Monday said the Right to Information Act
would bring transparency, curb corruption and help journalists to seek
information about various issues from government departments.
He was speaking at a ceremony in
connection with the launch of the Federal Information Commission for
implementation of the federal Right to Information Law (RTI).
“Each government department will be
obliged to give information in 10 days. If it does not, the case will be sent
to the relevant commission, which will secure information within 30 days. And
if the department declines to share the sought information, the option of
filing a suit will be available,” he said.
A whistle-blower act to curb corruption
is also coming soon, which is a great step towards ending the menace,” he
maintained.
As per law, as prime minister had
promised, a reward of 20 per cent will be given from the recovered amount to
the person, who blows the whistle on any act of corruption.
The minister said information about
granting advertisements to the newspapers will also be made public soon.
He pointed out 34 initiatives had been
taken by the PTI government under six themes during its 100 days in power.
Talking about the opposition’s demand for
appointing Shahbaz Sharif as the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman, the
minister said the demand was “immoral”.
He said the opposition did not want to
see Parliament functioning. He said the opposition knew that if Parliament
would be functional, then they would not be able to work.
Referring to Shahbaz Sharif and Nawaz
Sharif, Fawad pointed out that the younger brother wanted to see the projects
carried out by his elder brother and this was aimed at impeding the system.
“When we are in government, we will audit the projects of Nawaz Sharif
government and when the PML-N or PPP is in power, they may audit ours,” he
contended.
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