The Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) issued the ruling while deciding two appeals filed by journalist Saddia Mazhar against the National Assembly Secretariat.
One of the appeals sought details of officers who joined the NA Secretariat on deputation from January 2018 onwards. The requested information included their parent departments, grades, dates of appointment, promotions and records related to their induction into the Secretariat.
The NA Secretariat had maintained that minutes of meetings, official file notes and recommendations concerning the employees had been classified under a ruling issued by the National Assembly speaker on October 4, 2022, under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.
The speaker’s ruling had classified several categories of records, including committee minutes, briefing material, working papers and certain personal records of employees, for the purposes of the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017.
The PIC observed that the speaker, as head of the National Assembly Secretariat, could exercise powers under Section 7(f) of the Right of Access to Information Act, even though the provision specifically refers to the minister-in-charge of a public body.
However, the commission stressed that the exercise of this authority remained subject to the requirements of the law.
The PIC noted that the speaker’s ruling did not explain why the potential harm from disclosure outweighed the public interest. As a result, the commission held that the ruling could not be used as a basis to classify the requested records.
The commission further ruled that the speaker’s decision could not be applied either prospectively or retrospectively because it failed to fulfil the legal requirements for classification under Section 7(f) of the Act.
