The document provides an overview of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Act 2013. It discusses social accountability and the right to information as an important social accountability tool. It outlines key aspects of the KP RTI Act, including what information is available to citizens, the process for information requests, the role of the Information Commission, and penalties for non-compliance. The Act aims to increase transparency and civic participation through access to government-held information.

1. 1
KP Right to Information
Act 2013:
A Briefing
Gulbaz Ali Khan
Senior Manager-Governance & CD
Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
Government of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa

2. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
What is Social Accountability
• It is an approach towards building
accountability that relies on civic engagement,
i.e., in which it is ordinary citizens and/or civil
society organizations who participate directly
or indirectly in exacting accountability (WB
2004)
2

3. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
Why Social Accountability?
3
Social AccountabilitySocial Accountability
Good GovernanceGood Governance
Development
Effectiveness
Development
Effectiveness
EmpowermentEmpowerment

4. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
Social Accountability Tools
• Election Monitoring
• Participatory budgeting
• Public Expenditure Tracking
• Public feedback mechanisms like Social Audits
• Community/citizen monitoring of over-all performance of
public agencies, e.g. through Citizen Report Cards and
Community Scorecards
• Public disclosure initiatives
• Right to information
4

5. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
What is Right to Information?
• Access to information is the cornerstone to good governance,
meaningful participation, increasing transparency and is
recognized as a fundamental human right
• Freedom of information legislation comprises laws that
guarantee access to data held by the state. They establish a
"right-to-know" legal process by which requests may be made
for government-held information, to be received freely or at
minimal cost, barring standard exceptions.
5

6. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
What is Right to Information?
• The right of access to information detained by
government officials gives that citizens have a basic
human right to demand information held by
government bodies.
• RTI legislations endorse two ways of information
sharing:
6
Reactive
disclosure
Proactive
dissemination

7. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
A Powerful Social Accountability Tool:
Right to Information:
• The Right to information is considered a powerful
tool to ensure social accountability as:
– It facilitates a constructive engagement between public
authorities and citizens.
– It addresses the response and voice aspects of
governance.
– It’s a tool for checking :
• Corruption, abuse of power and mismanagement among public
bodies, contributing directly to advancing the agenda on good
governance
7

8. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
Journey of RTI-Global & Pakistan
• Originated in Sweden in 1766 which provide access to
information to journalists
• UN Accepted this as fundamental human right in 1946
• More than 96 countries have RTI laws
8

9. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
KP Right To Information Act
• RTI Law has been passed by KP assembly on October
31, 2013 and Governor assented on November 04,
2013 (KP Assembly)
• The law bestows the right to access to any
information or record held by a body. It also states
that it facilitates and encourages the disclosure of
information, promptly and at the lowest reasonable
cost.
9

10. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
What kind of information is available?
• Maintenance and indexing of public records
• Publication and availability of records
10

11. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
Annual Reporting & PIOs
• Public body is bound to prepare an annul
report featuring state of RTI implementation
and submit to
– Speaker of KP Assembly
– Information Commission
• All the public bodies will designate public
information officer within 120 days from the
date of commencement of this act
11

12. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
What citizen can not access?
• This law also restricts access to information on
a) international relations & security,
b) disclosure harmful to law enforcement,
c) public economic affairs,
d) policy making,
e) privacy,
f) legal privilege, and
g) commercial and confidential information.
12

13. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
Process of disposal of information request
13
Citizen file an
information request
Citizen file an
information request
Acknowledgement
By Information
Officer
Acknowledgement
By Information
Officer
Information
Granted (10 days
extendable to
20 days)
Information
Granted (10 days
extendable to
20 days)
Information
Rejected
Information
Rejected
Complaint
lodged
with
Information
Commission
Complaint
lodged
with
Information
Commission
Information
already
provided
and/or
available
proactively
Information
already
provided
and/or
available
proactively
Decision by
Information
Commission
within
60 days
Decision by
Information
Commission
within
60 days

14. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
What if information is denied?
14
Daily fine of
PKR 250/-
per day up
to PKR
25000
imposed on
public
official

15. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
What constitutes Information Commission?
15
•Members shall hold offices for a term of 3 years
•Members shall not hold office after they have attained age of 65 years
•A member can be removed through majority vote (2 out of 3) in case he/she fails to attend 3
consecutive meetings without any cause

16. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
How Information Commission can be
instrumental?
• Primary function is to receive and decide upon
the complaints
• In addition to this:
– Set rules and minimum standards on record management
– Designate further categories of proactive disclosure (Website)
– Adopt a schedule of fee (information requests)
– Compile a user-friendly manual in Urdu and English (4 all)
– Compile a comprehensive on its activities, audited accounts and
state of implementation in public bodies (course correction)
16

17. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
How Information Commission can be
instrumental?
• The commission has powers to
– monitor and report the compliance,
– make recommendations on reforms and
comments on legislations, and
– facilitate and/or support training activities for
public officials and
– publicize the requirements and rights of the
citizens
17

18. Citizen Engagement for Social Service Delivery
THANK YOU
18