This commission maintains that the disclosure of the requested information is matter of public importance. Citizens of Pakistan have the right to know under Article 19-A of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the provisions of the Act, 2017 about the total sanctioned strength of officers, staff members of Honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan, total vacancies in the Supreme Court of Pakistan against different pay scales/ positions (category wise) and dates since which these positions have been lying vacant, number of staff members who are not regular but have been engaged on daily wages basis or through short term or long term contracts against various positions/ pay scale ( category wise), number and types of positions created anew since January 1 2013, total number of female staff members (category-wise) against various positions/pay-scales, total number of persons with disabilities working with Supreme Court of Pakistan against various positions/ pay-scales (category-wise), total number of transgender persons working with Supreme Court of Pakistan against various positions/ pay-scales (category-wise).
In fact, the requested information about the officers and the staff of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the instant Appeal is identical to the one requested in Appeal No 060-06/19 in the case titled Mukhtar Ahmed Ali vs Supreme Court of Pakistan on which this commission issued Order on July 12, 2021.
This commission maintains that the citizens of Pakistan have the right to know under Article 19-A of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the provisions of the Act, 2017 about total numbers of vehicle provide to Honorable Judges, officers, staff members and employees of Honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan, and vehicles purchase, auctioned, depreciated from January 1, 2013 to onward as requested by the Appellant.
This commission maintains that details of allocated & utilized budget and expenditure statement of the current financial year 2021-2022 of the Supreme Court of Pakistan Including proposed and actual expenditures is public information and its disclosure is warranted under the provisions of the Act, 2017.
So far as the requested attested Copy of Audit Report of audit year 2020-2021 of Honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan is concerned, it is public information. This commission held in Appeal No 060-06/19 in the case titled Mukhtar Ahmed Ali vs Supreme Court of Pakistan that the Respondent was legally bound to proactively publish the requested information about “Audit reports of the Supreme Court’s accounts for the last five years including FY 2019.20. FY 2018-19, FY 2017-18, FY 2016-17, and FY 2015-16”, through its web site as required under Section 5 of the Act, 2017.
This commission also holds that the requested information about the total number of houses, bungalows, flats and portion given to the Honorable Judges, officers and staff members of Honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan by Supreme Court of Pakistan and total number of rest houses of the Supreme Court of Pakistan is public information and its disclosure is warranted under the provisions of the Act, 2017.
This commission holds that the disclosure of the latest approved Services Rules of the Honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan is not only public record under the provisions of the Act, 2017 but also in line with the judgement of Hon’ble Supreme Court of Pakistan. In constitutional petition 39 of 2019, Juris Foundation through Chairman VS Federal Government through Secretary, Ministry of Defence, the Hon’ble Supreme Court said: “Acts of the Parliament or subordinate legislation are public documents and must be readily available to the citizen of the country subject to the exceptions provided under the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017.”.