This commission only received internal communication stating “to submit the requisite information directly to the applicant and detailed report of the same should also be submitted to this office and Registrar, Pakistan Information Commission, Govt: of Pakistan”. This communication also stated that “Matter be treated as most important”. It is unfortunate that the requested information treated ‘public record’ by the Respondent itself has not been shared with the Appellant and neither this commission has been informed to this effect, as the internal communication shared with this commission states.
This Commission has observed that information of public importance mentioned in Section 5 of the Act is not being published through the web site of federal public bodies, including the Respondent, ECP. In fact, the Web sites of federal public bodies contain generic information and not specific information as required under Section 5 of the Act. This is despite the fact that Principal Officer of each public body was required to ensure proactive disclosure of information through web site within 6 months of the commencement of the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017.
This Commission maintains that the information proactively published under Section 5 of the Right of Access to Information Act 2017 should be ‘accessible’ for all citizens, including the blind, low-vision, physically disabled, speech and hearing impaired and people with other disabilities. Apart from the interpretation of ‘accessible’ in section 5 of the Act, section 15 (5) of the ICT Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2020 requires federal public bodies to ensure accessibility of web sites to the special needs of persons with disabilities and it is as under:
“The government shall ensure that all websites hosted by Pakistani website service providers are accessible for persons with disabilities”.