The Supreme Court has allowed an appeal seeking disclosure of the details of the apex court’s staffers under the Right of Access to Information Act.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and Justice Athar Minallah, directed the registrar of the Supreme Court to apex court staff members’ details to applicant Mukhtar Ahmed within seven days. Justice Minallah authored an additional note on the matter. The verdict said all citizens are entitled to the right to information under Article 191 of the Constitution. “Transparency brings with it the added benefit of introspection, which benefits institutions by promoting self-accountability. Article 19A stipulates that information be provided subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed by law. However, there is no law which attends to the Supreme Court in this regard nor has the Supreme Court itself made any regulations. Needless to state that if a law is enacted and/or regulations made, requests for information would be attended to in accordance therewith and in accordance with Article 19A,” read the verdict.
The apex court in its verdict said an applicant seeking details is bound to give reasons for acquiring the information and the informant is bound to review the reasons. “In the present case, there is no reason why the information sought by the petitioner should not be provided, nor can the provision of such information be categorized as being contrary to the public interest. Consequently, the information sought by the petitioner should have been provided to him.” The court also ordered to return of the petitioner’s fees submitted for filing an appeal and intra-court appeal.
The CJP-led bench also ordered to issue the verdict in Urdu as well. Applicant Mukhtar Ahmad had approached the Supreme Court registrar in connection with details of apex court employees. The former SC registrar had refused to provide details. The applicant then resorted to the Pakistan Information Commission (PIC). The commission had asked the then registrar of SC to provide details. The former registrar had moved to Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the decision of PIC.
The applicant approached the Supreme Court after the IHC gave a decision against him.
The Supreme Court had reserved its decision on September 27 after hearing the arguments of the applicant and the attorney general for Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court set aside the decision of Lahore High Court (LHC) for declaring the fuel price adjustment in electricity bills as illegal and sent the matter to the NEPRA appellate tribunal. The apex court observed that the LHC verdict was not practicable as per the Constitution and law, allowing the power transmission companies to receive fuel price adjustment, which, however, would be subject to the approval of the NEPRA Appellate Tribunal.
The court said that the consumer companies would file appeals against the fuel price adjustment with the Appellate Tribunal within 15 days, which would fix the appeals within 10 days for hearing and decide within the statutory period.
During the course of proceedings, Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa asked whether there was any objection to the admissibility of the appeal, and if no one had any objection then give arguments on merit.
The appeals contained different pleas, he noted. The petitioners’ lawyer Salman Akram Raja said that at the time of FPA’s imposition in May 2022, the formation of NEPRA (National Electric Power Regulatory Authority) was unconstitutional. The CJP observed that if NEPRA’s formation were unconstitutional then the high court should have given a decision on it. The high court’s single member bench had given the verdict beyond its scope, which could not be maintained, he said adding the LHC had given the decision which was even not prayed in the petitions. CJP Isa observed that it would be better to take up the technical issues before NEPRA.
Justice Athar Minallah said that no court could look into the technical issues of NEPRA. Attorney General for Pakistan Masnoor Usman Awan said NEPRA and power distribution companies had no objection on challenging the matter in the tribunal. It should be noted that the LHC’s single bench had declared the fuel price adjustment illegal.
