close
Thursday March 28, 2024

Punjab govt removes two RTI commissioners, retains one

By Umar Cheema
February 16, 2023

ISLAMABAD: In a controversial move, caretakers in Punjab first removed all the three commissioners of Punjab Information Commission by using the power which they don’t have and then restored one of them, who is an intelligence veteran of a premier spy agency.

Nobody has the answer under what law they have been removed and whoever is asked points fingers towards the interim Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who issued a verbal order for the dissolution of all boards of directors of different authorities. On the other hand, the commission is a statutory body with a detailed procedure for removal of commissioners. The order issued suggests they were de-notified, not removed, which is again an illegal act.

Mehboob Qadir Shah, a retired district and sessions judge, was the chief information commissioner. Dr Arif Mushtaq, a retired additional IGP Punjab, and Shaukat Ali, a retired BS-20 officer of ISI, were the two commissioners. All of them were de-notified on February 13 but Shaukat Ali was restored on February 14. Shaukat enjoys a good reputation but others are not notorious either. Why he was restored and others were not remains an unresolved puzzle. Shaukat is the brother of a three-star general, who is also retired but he is not part of any caretaker setup. Former information commissioner of Punjab, Mukhtar Ahmed Ali, declared it an illegal order. “It is in blatant violation of Section 5(8) to 5(12) of the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2013,” he said.

Law is very clear with no ambiguity at all. “Chief Minister has no power to issue any such direction without first conducting an inquiry on specified grounds and referring the matter to a committee of the Punjab Assembly,” he said.

According to Section 5(9) of the Act, the government shall communicate the charges to the commissioner and afford him reasonable opportunity to explain his position. This has not been done in this case. The Section 5(10) says that if the government is not satisfied with the defence offered, it may refer the case to Punjab Assembly for an open inquiry by a special committee to be constituted by the assembly, which is not in existence at the moment. If the special committee finds the commissioner guilty, the Section 5(11) says, of any of the charges of misconduct or physical or mental incapacity, the government shall remove the commissioner. In case the Punjab Assembly is dissolved, the Section 5(12) reads, and the situation has arisen, the Speaker of the provincial assembly shall constitute a special committee for the purpose. The government has not followed the path dictated by the law while de-notifying them.

Mehboob Qadir Shah, the de-notified chief information commissioner, has moved Lahore High Court against this illegal decision. “The impugned notification on its showing reflects that it was passed only on the direction of CM having no reference to the competent authority as mentioned in appointment orders and also having no regard to the statutory procedure of removal of Information Commissioner vide Section 5(8) to 12 of the Act of 2013, hence a coram non judice order,” his petition reads. There is utter confusion about the removal of commissioners. A relevant official on the condition of anonymity agreed that they couldn’t have been removed by CM. Also, he agreed that the CM had ordered dissolution of boards of different departments whereas Punjab Information Commission neither falls in that category nor CM has power to remove the commissioners.