In the instant appeal, the Respondent failed to provide written acknowledgement of the request for information filed by the citizen as required under Section 10 (1) of the Act.
The Respondent also failed in adhering to the timeline for responding to the information requests as required under Section 14 (1) and (2) of the Act as the PIO did not respond to the information request at all.
The Respondent, instead of responding to the request for information filed by the citizen, only responded once the instant appeal was filed by the citizen.
The Respondent should have informed the Appellant in response to his request for information that “Azfar Zia, former DC, Layya is a Provincial Services of Punjab (PSP) officer, therefore, the requested information of the Appellant of the Appellant does not fall under the purview of Establishment Division. The Appellant may be requested to approach Services & General Administration Department, Government of Pakistan for provision of requested information”.
The proper response of the Respondent to the information request of the citizen would have saved time of the Respondent, the Appellant and this information commission.
This commission notes with concern that precious time and resources of government are wasted because officers fail to follow procedure laid down in the Act, 2017 in handling requests for information filed by citizens.