Ruda told to make public names of journalists given plots

LAHORE: The Punjab Information Commission has given the Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) till today to make public the names of the institutions and other information including the positions of the journalists who have applied for plots.

According to the documents obtained by Jang, the authority’s law officer Saqib Haroon and ADPR Sher Afzal appeared during the hearing of the case filed by Faisal Khan in the Information Commission. Ruda officers told the commission that the list of names of journalists who have applied and registered for plots has been uploaded on its website. The commission was informed that journalists have certain exemptions for disclosing information including the name of the institutions where they are working, the appointment letters given to them by the institutions and their positions.

The Information Commission, while rejecting the request for exemption by Ravi Urban Development Authority, ordered it to disclose all the information and the details of the decisions of the Scrutiny Committee for allotment of plots to the journalists and to whom it was decided to allot the plots. The final list should be provided to the complainant, Faisal Khan, under the Right to Information Act, it added.

Earlier, RUDA officials had pleaded during an appearance before the Information Commission that the records sought by the complainant under the Right to Information Act were too voluminous so they should be given time to collect them.