Excise director fined for violating RTI Act

LAHORE: The Punjab Information Commission fined Rs 50,000 to the Excise Headquarters Director for not disclosing information on expenses on transport used by the Excise DG during 2021-22.

Chief Information Commissioner Mehboob Qadir Shah while delivering the verdict in the Shahbaz Akmal Advocate v. DG Excise case, said the lawyer had requested inspection of transport and stationary records of the Excise Department during 2021-22 under the Right to Information Act, but the Chief Public Information Officer and Headquarters Director Miss Fiza Shah did not respond to the request within 14 days as per the RTI Act.

The Chief Information Commissioner said that despite three orders and show-cause notices issued by the commission to the officer, no progress was made. The commission also issued a warning to the Public Information Officer and Excise and Taxation Officer Muhammad Naeem, who appeared for the hearing, saying that since he had been appointed as PIO for only one month, he was guilty of resisting the RTI Act. The commission has adjourned the hearing of the case until 11:30am on July 20.