By IANS,
Islamabad : The Pakistan senate’s committee on information and broadcasting has approved the draft of a Freedom of Information Law.
The committee would move the draft Thursday as a multi-party bill in the senate, the upper house of Pakistan’s parliament, its chairman Kamil Ali Agha said, according to the Dawn newspaper.
“I will submit the draft of the bill before Senate Secretariat on Thursday,” Agha was quoted as telling the newspaper.
Regarding some reservations raised by the country’s defence ministry about the bill, Farhatullah Babar, the the Pakistan president’s spokesman, said that the senate would not wait for that ministry’s reply.
The defence ministry had asked the senate committee to keep the bill pending till further orders from its authorities. Later it asked the committee to include a condition in the draft making it mandatory for anyone seeking official information to get a no-objection certificate, the report said.
But the committee rejected the ministry’s views and approved the draft.
The bill will allow the media and the common man access to all types of information be it secret, classified, confidential or simple, according to Agha.
“Each and every government department comes under the ambit of the bill and they will have to provide all kinds of information to people,” Agha was quoted as saying.
“Even appointments of officials and their perks and privileges will be placed on the website,” he added.
According to the new law, government officials will have to provide information within 20 days or else a complaint may be lodged against the particular official concerned, a decision on which will have to be taken by the head of the relevant department in the next 20 days.
Asked about action against officials for non-compliance, Agha said: “We also suggested punishment in this regard in the bill.”