With due deference to Honorable Chairman Senate, this commission holds that the authority of Hon’ble Chairman, Senate of Pakistan to declare certain information as classified is neither absolute, unqualified nor final” under the provisions of the Act, 2017.
This commission concurs with the point raised by the Appellant that “As far as the procedure provided in Section 7(f) of the Act regarding the exclusion of record, it may kindly be noted that the Chairman Senate is the custodian of the House of Federation and can’t claim in any manner to be the Minister in Charge of the Federal Government”.
This commission maintains that the disclosure of requested information about foreign visits of Senators including Chairman of Senate and Senate officials, number of these visits, total budget allocated and total budget spent on these visits is neither likely to be detrimental to interests of Pakistan, prejudicial to foreign policy, nor this disclosure is likely to be potentially damaging to inter parliamentary relations with other States.