PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Commission has become dysfunctional due to the provincial government’s failure to fill two commissioner vacancies for several months, say officials.

Under Section 24 of the KP RTI Act, 2013, the information commission comprises a chief information commissioner and two commissioners from the legal, mass communication, academic or right to information backgrounds.

Sources told Dawn that Riaz Duadzai, one of the information commissioners, completed his three years tenure at the commission on July 10, a few days before the appointment of the incumbent chief information commissioner.

They also said the position of the commissioner with legal background had been lying vacant since Nov 8, 2019.

The sources said the absence of both commissioners had rendered the RTIC dysfunctional as the commission required a quorum of two commissioners or a commissioner with the chief information commission to dispose of cases.

Two commissioner posts vacant for months

Section 25(4) of the KP RTI Act, 2013, declared, “While deciding a complaint, the Information Commission shall consist of at least two members or one member and the Chief Information Commissioner and the decision of the Commission shall not be invalid on the ground of existence of any vacancy.”

A source told Dawn that the commission was unable to dispose of cases, so the number of information requests pending with the department had surged to over 1,700.

“The only purpose of keeping the commission dysfunctional appears to be that the government does not want citizens to question its action or other decision by employing the RTI law,” the source said.

He said the RTI was one of the flagship projects of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government and its current situation reflected the government’s disinterest in freedom of information.

A note was put up by the information department to the special assistant for the chief minister for information and public relations regarding the appointment of information commissioners.

According to it, Mr Riaz Khan, former information commissioner, completed his three years tenure on July 10, 2002, so the post of member (social) is currently vacant.

Similarly, the note said the post of the commissioner with judicial position had been lying vacant since the completion of the service term of Mah Talat on Nov 8, 2019, and those vacancies were required to be filled up for the smooth disposal of the official activities of the commission.

It said the department with the approval of chief minister has already notified the search committee on Nov 6, 2020 with the special assistant to chief minister on information of public relations as its chairman to shortlist candidates for positions of the members of the information commission.

The note said a panel of 16 candidates received from the directorate-general of information and public relations, law department and the RTIC is placed before the search committee for consideration and nominate the suitable candidate for positions of commissioner (social) and commissioner (judicial) and further place the panel of suitable officers before the provincial cabinet for appointment of the commissioners.

“The special assistant to the chief minister on information and public relations may like to give a suitable date and time to call a meeting of the search committee for the appointment of commissioners to the RTIC,” it said.

The document shows that nine persons have been selected for each post.

Another source told Dawn that a government official who was set to retire next year was placed on the first priority for one of the commissioners and therefore, the appointment was being kept pending.

Dawn shared written questions with the personal staff of special assistant for information and public relations Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif. However, no response was received till filing of this report.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2022