Highlights

1. The RTI law in Punjab and the implementing and promoting agency formed under it, the Punjab Information Commission, was placed first, receiving 191 out of a total of 400 points, or 47.8% of the total
2. The RTI law in KP and the implementing and promoting agency formed under it, the KP RTI Commission, was placed second, receiving 178 out of a total of 400 points, or 44.5% of the total
3. The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications, the agency responsible for computerization of official records at the Federal level, was the only implementing agency to score highly on the sub-parameter of Record Maintenance and Indexing, as it has already piloted and launched an E-office system at the Federal level, unlike its Provincial counterparts
4. RTI laws and their associated implementing and enforcement agencies at the Federal level and within Sindh and Balochistan, could only be partially scored due to:
   1. Unavailability of relevant data, and
   2. Inapplicability of certain Assessment criteria used in the Scorecard.
5. Punjab RTI law scored highest out of all the laws assessed with 97 out of a total of 100 points as KP fails to frame RTI rules. The KP RTI law received lower (93 out of a total of 100) points because it has excluded Peshawar High Court from the scope and has failed to notify RTI Rules
6. Implementation of the law within Government Bodies of Punjab has been stronger than Government Bodies in KP, as the former has been able to train more Information Officers and produce a Training Manual for them
7. Both the KP RTI Commission and the Punjab Information Commission scored poorly in Promotion of the law, because both have yet to publish their first Annual Reports or establish mechanisms to monitor implementation of RTI within Government Public Bodies although they are completing their two years since inception. The KP RTI Commission scored higher than Punjab Information Commission on this parameter as it maintained a higher complaints disposal rate and has been able to launch more frequent and varied mass awareness campaigns.
8. The Punjab Information Commission scored higher than its KP counterpart in the overall scoring also because the latter has failed to release details of its Budget and Expenditures on its website.

October 05: PILDAT has released its preliminary Comparative Scorecard which assesses Right to Information Legislation and its Implementation and promotion within Pakistan at the Federal and Provincial levels.

On this assessment, the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013 and the Punjab Information Commission formed under this law have received the highest scores in comparison to counterpart RTI laws and implementing and promotion agencies in place at the Federal level, and within KP, Sindh and Balochistan. The KP RTI regime closely trails behind the Punjab RTI regime with 178 out of 400 points.

The Assessment Framework of the preliminary Comparative Scorecard was developed by PILDAT in-house, based on consultations with key stakeholders responsible for the implementation and promotion of RTI legislation in Pakistan, including the Punjab Information Commission and the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) Right to Information Commission. The Assessment Framework measures and compares the state of RTI at the Federal and Provincial levels within the following areas:

1. Strength of the Law
2. Implementation of the Law within Government Bodies
3. Promotion of the Law by Information Commission/Department
4. Infrastructure and Resources dedicated to Implementation and Promotion of the law

Scoring in these areas was conducted by PILDAT based upon publicly-available data relating to the implementation and promotion of RTI legislation within the Federation and 4 Provinces, including KP, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. A number of key findings emerged as a result of this scoring exercise.

In terms of the Strength of the Law, the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013 was placed first and above the KP Right to Information Act 2013, which came in second because it does not include the Peshawar High Court under its ambit and because it is still functioning without Rules of Business, despite having been passed on November 04, 2013.

The Federal Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002 was placed above the Balochistan Freedom of Information Act 2005 and the Sindh Freedom of Information Act 2006, both of which were tied in last place. This is because the Federal RTI law has been supplemented with the promulgation of Rules of Business passed in 2004. The Federal RTI law has also been rated above its counterparts in Sindh and Balochistan because it applies to local government bodies, when read in conjunction with the Islamabad Local Government Act 2015.

The Government Public Bodies monitored by the Punjab Information Commission received a higher score than Government Public Bodies under the KP Right to Information Commission in terms of Implementation of the RTI law within Government Public Bodies, as they have been more effective in Appointment and Training of Information Officers. Government Bodies under the ambit of RTI law at the Federal level and within Sindh and Balochistan could not be fully scored on the same Assessment Area, due to unavailability of data.

In the Area of Promotion of Implementation of RTI law by Information Commission/Department the KP RTI Commission was placed higher than its counterpart in Punjab. This is because the former has been able to maintain a disposal rate of around 70% in comparison to Punjab�s disposal rate of around 47% for the information requests it has received since inception.

The Commission in KP has also been more effective at Promoting Public Use of RTI, which is reflected in the greater number of per capita information requests received in KP.

However, the Commission�s in both KP and Punjab have generally scored poorly on this parameter as both have not been able to publish Annual Reports for both years of their functioning. This indicates that the Commissions have not been able to establish mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of RTI within public bodies under their purview, which is one of their major functions.

The relevant Ombudsman Offices responsible for hearing RTI complaints at Federal level and within Sindh and Balochistan scored poorly on this parameter, as they have not been able to enforce the decisions passed on the small number of information complaints they have received.

Within the Assessment Area of Infrastructure and Resources, the Punjab Information Commission was placed first, while the KP Right to Information Commission was placed second. This is because, unlike its counterpart in Punjab, the Commission in KP has not published information related to its Budget and Expenditures, as required in the law. Relevant implementing and enforcement agencies established at the Federal level and within Sindh and Balochistan could not be fully scored on the same Assessment Area, due to unavailability of data.

The Preliminiary RTI Scorecard can be accessed by clicking here.

The Preliminiary RTI Scorecard was prepared and published by PILDAT under the More effective Right-To-Information (RTI) at Federal and Provincial level (Sindh and Punjab) Project, for which PILDAT has received financial support from Development Alternative Inc. (DAI) under the Enhanced Democratic Accountability and Civic Engagement (EDACE) Project. PILDAT has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the publically available data within this Scorecard and the analyses based on it. Any omission, or error, therefore, is not deliberate. The views and analyses in this Scorecard do not necessarily represent the views of the Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI).