Punjab RTI law

Sir: The onslaught has begun. No sooner had the people begun to taste the bittersweet truth about their constitutional right to access information that the bureaucracy (read empire) has struck back with a vengeance. First, it was the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government that not only exposed the chink in their armour by surreptitiously introducing amendments to the KP Right to Information (RTI) Act to make it fallible, but also opened up a Pandora’s box to encourage the bureaucracy in Punjab to rein in the Punjab RTI Act as well.

A three-member committee has been formed by the Chief Secretary Punjab to revisit the Punjab RTI law and the powers of the Information Commission. The committee comprising Secretary Information, Secretary Law and Secretary Implementation and Coordination has been formed subsequent to a query regarding the details of the expenses of the Punjab Governor’s House. A committee comprising solely of Secretaries will, in the words of General Douglas McArthur, owe their allegiance to the temporary occupants of the Governor House and not to the constitution of the state. The committee will do its utmost and all in its power to clip the wings of the RTI Act and the Information Commission.
The fundamental question, apart from the legal ramifications, remains the same as always. Why do our lawmakers feel themselves superior to their paymasters? A House financed by the taxpayers’ money is answerable to the taxpayers, no matter how high the pedestal of the temporary occupant of the house may be. If I have a right to ask from my domestic staff about the duties that he/she is being paid for, then I very well have a right to ask from the government servants also whose salary I am also paying. This credo seems to be lost on our civil servants.
The beleaguered citizens of this country in general and civil society in particular have to be in a constant state of alert to defend their constitutional rights from the blitzkrieg of the powers that be. To the citizens I say: stand up and defend your rights.
DR RAZA GARDEZI
Via Email