Punjab Information Commission passed 2500 orders in 2021
ISLAMABAD: The Punjab information Commission has claimed that it has passed around 2500 orders and resolved 89 percent of complaints in the Year of 2021.
Information availed through Right to Information shows that the provincial information commission out of the 2122 registered complaints received last year, 253 are still pending before the commission.
In response to an information request filed by this scribe, the Punjab Information Commission data shows that 1685 complaints were received in the year of the 2020. And the commission had resolved all these complaints subsequently.
However, Nadeem Tanoli, a senior journalist, experience told a different story. The Commission, he said, runs its affairs totally on whatsapp and calls. The shared data is just to conclude the information request. PIC even do not acknowledge receipt of the complaints.
“As far as my experience with the Punjab Commission is concerned, whenever I, except few cases, contacted the Commission for followup of my complaints, the staff said, your complaint is not traceable or not received kindly send it again”, maintained Tanoli.
He added, that his more than 20, 25 complaints field in year of 2019, 2020 and 2021 are still pending with the commission.
Interestingly, the commission, this year too, had received the highest number of complaints against those departments received in the year of 2020. These departments include Inspector General of Police, Higher Education Department, Punjab Health Engineering, Excise Taxation and Narcotics Control, Lahore Development Authority and Punjab Curriculum Textbook Board.
The Commission has 46 sanction posts. The Commission, however, has currently 21 employees and two information Commissioners. The data shows that 50 percent of the posts sanctioned for PIC are vacant.
