Panel On RTI Bill Agrees On Draft Of Government Bill With Some

Panel on RTI Bill agrees on draft of government bill with some

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Jan, 2017 ) : Senate Select Committee on Right to Information Bill 2016 Tuesday agreed on the draft of the bill with consensus. Formally the bill will be approved and sent to the Senate in its next meeting.

The meeting chaired by Senator Farhatullah Babar in its meeting examined clauses 18 to 29 of the government draft bill and after consultations and debate one by one on all clauses and approved some amendments in the bill with consensus.

The important decisions taken by the committee included on appointment of members of Information Commission,their powers, and punitive action on wilful destruction of public record.The committee also decided that after 20 years all public record would be made public.

The committee suggested that if an information is related to life and personal liberty of a person,the concerned institution will provide information within three days. The committee also recommended the clause of whistle blowing in the bill which means that if a person in some organisation informs about the corruption in the institution he would be protected against legal action.

The committee also approved the amendment suggesting that one member of the Information Commission would be appointed from judiciary,one retired bureaucrat and one from civil society so that the commission should have people of diverse opinions.

The age limit of the members of the commission was finalized not more than 65 year at the time of appointment. The Chairman of the committee thanked all members of the committee and the government for reaching consensus of the draft of the bill.

Senators Syed Shibli Faraz, Rubina Khalid,Pervaiz Rashid,Ilyas Bilour,Mushahidullah Khan,Mukhtiar Ahmed Damrah Ejaz and Javed Abbasi attended the meeting. Minister of State for Information,Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb and Chairman Standing Committee on IB&NH Senator Kamil Ali Agha also attended the meeting.