This commission maintains that the contention of the Respondent-2 that the Appellant has not submitted fee along with the information request is legally untenable. Exercising powers vested in this commission under Section 27 of the Act, Pakistan Information Commission has notified „Schedule of Costs‟. Under this, there is no fee for filing information request and there is no fee for first 50 pages. However, public bodies can charge Rs. 2 per page for every extra page.
If the Respondent-2 has issued confiscated “Arms and Ammunition to the officers and staff of customs and to all field formation officers of customs”, the disclosure of the information as to who issued and to whom these confiscated arms and Ammunition were issued against what fee is a matter of public importance and as such this information should be made available to the Appellant. The disclosure of this information is warranted by both the letter and the spirit of the Act.