Islamabad, August06, 2020: The Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) has observed that the availability of the certified information about the civil awards in public domain will make the entire process about the conferment of these awards open and transparent, and will contribute to reducing trust-deficit between citizens and public institutions.
In an order, issued on Friday, PIC expressed, certified records pertaining to the conferment of civil awards will be made available in the public domain for everyone to see, it will further enhance prestige of these awards.
PIC in its order has directed Cabinet Division to provide all records along with noting on the files, minutes of the meetings conferring Sitara-e-Imtiaz civil award to Mian Muhammad Mansha by President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf.
The commission also directed Cabinet Division to provide recommendations furnished by public officials who nominated the recipient in the process which led to the conferment of the award.
The order was issued on an information request of a citizen who sought records pertaining to the conferment of the award, but the request was denied by the cabinet division stating that record relating to the personal privacy of any individual; and record of private documents furnished to a public body either on an express or implied condition that information contained in any such documents shall not be disclosed to a third party under the Section 7 (g) (h) of Right of Access to Information Act 2017
The commission maintained that the records requested by the Appellant pertain to recommendations submitted by public officials to confer a civil award on the citizen in question during the process. Furthermore, requested documents pertain to the records generated during the process by the three Award committees during May-July and summary by the Prime Minister sent to the President to finalise the conferment of the civil award.
“This commission is of the view that right to privacy is a sacred right and any information which infringes personal privacy of an individual should be protected. As such any information like health condition, financial details, personal communication, CNIC details, phone numbers and residential addresses of citizens should not be made public. Therefore, all such information provided by public officials who nominated the recipient for the award and the recipient himself is exempted from disclosure. Any other information furnished in the process which led to the final decisions is public information”, states Order of the commission.
The commission held that the argument put forward by the public body that private documents submitted by a third party are exempted from disclosure under Section 7 (h) of the Act is neither applicable in the instant appeal nor holds water.
Civil awards are conferred on citizens for their high accomplishments and contribution to the betterment of our society in various fields. Such information testifying their contribution to the society is already available in the public domain.
These awards are conferred on citizens based on the recommendations of public officials and not on the basis of any private documents. Therefore, information submitted by public officials who nominated the recipient for the civil award with the confidence that it testified that the recipient was worthy of the award cannot be exempted from disclosure.
In fact, if there is any information which is not already public, it should be made available so that citizens can know more about accomplishments of the recipients of these awards and their contribution to the society.
The commission also observed that in the instant appeal, as final decision has been taken by the public body, therefore, noting on the files and minutes of the meetings are public documents. Section 7 (a) exempts noting on file only subject to ‘a final decision’. Once final decision is taken by a public body, noting on the file becomes a public document. Similarly, Section 7 (b) exempts minutes of meetings only subject to ‘a final decision’ by a public body. Once final decision is taken by a public body, minutes of meetings become public documents.
The commission also noted that final decisions are public documents under Section 6 (c)of the Act.
The commission observed that it expects the Respondent being Cabinet Division to be a trailblazer for other federal public bodies in ensuring the implementation of the Act to facilitate citizens’ constitutional right of access to information in matters of public importance.
The commission also directed Cabinet Division to designate Public Information Officer (PIO) as required under Section 9 of the Act, put contact details on its web site as required under Section 5 (1) (h)of the Act and submit notification to this effect to the commission.