freedom of information shehri seminar - 6 december 2010

8/8/2019 Freedom of Information Shehri Seminar - 6 December 2010

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Seminar on Freedom of

Information Ordinance, 2002

6 December 2010

Shehri-CBE(Sameer Hamid Dodhy)


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Why have FOI / RTI Legislation? What would you do if your household servants

refuse to give accounting of the money you gave tothem for purchase of goods?

Public servants versus government officers Freedom of information legislation are rules that

guarantee citizens access to data held by the state.They establish a "right-to-know" legal process by

which requests may be made for government-heldinformation, to be received freely or at minimal cost,barring standard exceptions.


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FOI / RTI In Pakistan Federal FOI Ordinance (2002) Balochistan Freedom of Information Act (2005) Sindh Freedom of Information Act (2006) Other provinces will follow as according to the 18th

Amendment Bill, the following new article shall beinserted, namely: 19A. Right to information: - Everycitizen shall have the right to have access to

information in all matters of public importancesubject to regulation and reasonable restrictionimposed by the law.


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Procedure For Federal FOI Application I

Under the Rules, the head of every public bodyshall designate a Senior Officer under hisadministrative control for the purpose of providing

duly attested copy or receipt of the application forinformation.

In case the requisite information is not providedwith in 21 days, the applicant may file a complaintunder Rule 6 with the head of the public body whois required to dispose of the complaint underintimation to the complainant within 30 days.


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Procedure For Federal FOI Application II

In case the requisite information is not provided tothe applicant by the head of the public body, asprovided vide Section 19 of the Ordinance, he may

file a complaint with the Wafaqi Mohtasib(Ombudsman), and in cases relating to RevenueDivision, with the Federal Tax Ombudsman afterexpiry of 30 days of lodging of complaint with the

head of the public body.


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Shehri - Freedom Of Information

Shehri first successfully used freedom of information in2004

A commercial plaza was being built on a residential plot 151-A, PECHS, Block-2, Shehri asked KBCA and Ministry of Housing & Works to confirm status of the plot.

As there was no reply Shehri approached the FederalOmbudsman. Eventually the Ministry of Housing & Worksconfirmed the plot was residential.

This confirmation was instrumental in the ruling of anongoing court case


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FOI A Current Case Study I In August 2009 Shehri asked Karachi Building Control

Authority (KBCA) the details of the Buildings regularized underThe Sindh Regulation and Control (Use of Plots andConstruction of Buildings) Ordinance, 2002, Sindh Ordinance

No. VIII of 2002. This legislation regularized illegally builtbuildings in Karachi on the payment of a fee . The objective of this Freedom of Information Ordinance (FOI)

request was to find out what was the assessed value forregularization and what was the actual payment received in

the government coffers. Details asked were: Total Buildings regularized under this ordinance


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FOI A Current Case Study II Plot Numbers of buildings Payment assessed per building / plot number for

regularization Actual payment received by the government per building /

plot number for regularization There was no response from KBCA. Shehri then wrote a

complaint to Sindh Provincial Ombudsman Secretariat.(Ombudsman file number POS/362/2010/DG-I )

KBCA has sent a number of confusing replies but has not giventhe requested information even after a period of 1 year


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Moral You Need Patience As a test case we asked one of our members to send

an FOI request to KBCA in August 2009 to see how anordinary citizen fared with this law.

As usual there was no response. A complaint wassent to Sindh Provincial Ombudsman Secretariat.(Ombudsman file number POS/363/2010/DG-I ).

In this case KBCA initially did not reply but afterpressure is now responding however many of the

replies are confusing and absurd. Matter still inombudsman. You have to fight for your rights and be patient


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Changes Need There are many changes need in the current law India has similar RTI (Right to Information) laws. However

these laws are more effective. Two of the major reasons are:a) There is a dedicated oversight body to implement theselaws and to redress complaintsb) In India if a government officer delays giving informationhe can be fined up to Rs 25,000,- and this matter goes in hisrecord / file. This fine comes from the personal salary of theofficer

In Pakistan when the information is benign replies do comefrom government departments. However when requestedinformation is sensitive or there is corruption involvedbureaucrats can delay and confuse matters for years on endwhich defeats the purpose of the law.


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Sunlight is the best disinfectant

Justice Louis Brandeis

freedom of information shehri seminar - 6 december 2010

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