KPIC commissioner says bill wasn’t moved to exclusively benefit him

PESHAWAR: Iftikhar Hussain Khan, commissioner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Commission (KPIC), has refuted the news item carried by a section of the press on Monday that certain Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members of the provincial assembly have submitted a private member’s bill to amend the Right to Information Act 2013 to exclusively benefit him.

He said the bill was originally submitted by Mehmood Jan Khan, PTI MPA from PK-7 Peshawar and later endorsed by another PTI lawmaker Yaseen Khalil.

Iftikhar Hussain said that the bill was got processed for a reason known to him as some quarters wanted to grind their own axe and had manipulated to get the bill misinterpreted in the Law, and Establishment departments on wrong grounds.

Referring to the opinion of the Law Department which on the basis of Article 179 of the Constitution opposed the bill and said the article related to the tenure of the judges of the Supreme Court had no concern with the subject case.

He clarified that recently the provincial assembly passed the Whistleblower Commission bill with the age limit of 67 years for the commissioner and no such issue was raised then.

The commissioner said his name was illogically mentioned in the news item that shocked him as it carried no justification. He added he reserves the right to seek legal remedy in the regard.