What about Punjab’s right to know?

Citizens as architects of the democratic system maintain a pivotal position for participating in governance processes and by the same virtue for validating the efficacy of adopted processes and ultimately of the system.

In this position, public use of reason becomes the vector of communicative action, and the public sphere helps articulate the interests of citizens which resonates both at political and societal levels. The construct of a multitude of intersecting public spheres and their influence on systems development is held together by a flow of communication that is functionalised in different patterns for different social groups. It originates with access to information for citizens and then translates into a constructive process of communication between the citizen and the state.

Information provision to the citizens of Pakistan has a chequered history marked by the struggle of civil society to allow for the strengthening of the public sphere through legal recognition backed by governmental action. The decades-old struggle resulted in the insertion of Article 19A under the 18th Amendment to the constitution of Pakistan in 2010 which grants the right to information to the citizens of Pakistan and sets the constitutional requirement for the realisation of this right.

For citizens living in Punjab, the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013 regulates the enforcement of this right and calls for governmental action to engage citizens in the governance system. The legislation itself has been rated satisfactory by the civil society but after a decade of enactment, exercising this right and reflection of such an exercise in the improvement of democratic and governance processes remains questionable. The availability of information about the performance of public entities along with budgetary details is restrictive despite clear provisions of the law.

The law calls for proactive disclosure of information by the public entities of the province and all other information permissible under the law provided by the public information officer(s) of each public body. Proactive disclosure among many of its parameters includes the budget of the public body including details of all proposed and actual expenditures; a directory of its officers and employees with their respective remuneration, perks and privileges; and a description of its decision-making processes and opportunities for the public to provide input into or be consulted about decisions.

The law further requires publicising the annual report by every public body for the previous financial year by August 31 each year along with maintaining and indexing information relating to the body for easy access and retrieval. The Punjab Information Commission has been created to regulate and enforce the provisions of the provincial law.

The website of the Punjab Information Commission can be viewed for its compliance with the requirements of the law. Ironically, the commission falls short on many accounts – deficient or no information for its annual report (Annual Report 2023-2024 is missing), directory of employees with perks and salaries, and procedure of decision-making process. This trait is common across major websites of public bodies of the province. Most conveniently, information about the public information officer (PIO) has been placed on the website to exhibit compliance with the law

The procedural efficiency of getting information from the nominated PIOs is another story altogether which primarily hinges on the persistence and patience of the applicant. Anecdotal evidence suggests a high degree of non-compliance; remedial measures accorded by the law are difficult to follow for common citizens. Interested individuals are most likely to persevere through the process of pursuing non-compliance and bear the ordeal of getting into appeals. However, other citizens rely heavily upon proactive disclosure and bank upon knowing the performance of public bodies in the context of allocated budgets as they neither have the time nor resources to fight for information. One wonders if the law ever even intended for citizens to gear up for an information-seeking battle.

Since local governments form an integral component of our governance system, it is pertinent to look into the implementation of the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013 by the Punjab Local Government and Community Development (LGCD) Department and local governments of the province. Information under the proactive disclosure requirement of the Act is scant and scattered but remains incomplete.

One is unable to find the annual report of the LGCD Department on its website and sadly against services of the department, the website mentions the services rendered by local governments of the province. Needless to say, the directory of employees with their benefits is conveniently missing like that from the websites of all public bodies. Perhaps, the best example of non-compliance with the law – the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) – is idealised by the public bodies.

The state of local governments in the province is even more concerning, as they are responsible for both delivering municipal services and overseeing urban planning. The Metropolitan Corporation Lahore’s website, under its Right to Information tab, merely displays content from the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2013 – a practice replicated by other municipal corporations’ websites.

Among local governments, only the 16 municipalities receiving technical and financial assistance from a World Bank-funded project have updated information on the services they provide and their respective budgets. However, even these updates need to be better organised and fully aligned with the law’s proactive disclosure requirements.

This raises a troubling question: is the realisation of a constitutional right in Punjab merely an incidental benefit of foreign aid?

The realisation of the Right to Information in Punjab remains a major concern due to the government’s inability to function transparently and, more importantly, because of a governance structure that excludes citizens from meaningful participation. Every public body must revisit the provisions of the law and fulfil its obligations, particularly since each maintains a website for compliance with procurement requirements under the PPRA Rules. The commission has also conducted multiple training sessions for PIOs, yet implementation remains inadequate.

The commission must also play an active role in assessing and publicising the implementation of the Right to Information law. Proactive disclosure on official websites and the publication of annual reports should serve as key indicators for all public bodies in the province. The commission may prescribe a standardised format for these reports, as this falls within its mandate under the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Rules, 2014.

The Directorate General Public Relations Punjab’s divisional offices should also ensure the online availability of relevant information, as required by law. To facilitate this, additional resources may be hired at the divisional level to collect and compile province-wide data in the prescribed formats, ensuring greater transparency in governance. The cost of failing to act is high – undermining inclusive institutions, eroding trust between the state and citizens, and weakening the public sphere.

The writer is a public policy analyst based in Lahore. He can be reached at: hamidmasud@gmail.com