ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) has directed the National Assembly Secretariat to provide detailed information about expenditures, travel allowances, perks and privileges received by members and chairpersons of parliamentary standing committees and their subcommittees.
In an order, available with Dawn, the commission directed the NA secretary to provide clear and specific responses to 13 outstanding questions under the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017, within 10 days, months after journalist Saddia Mazhar had filed an appeal over denial of the information.
According to the order, she submitted a request on June 21, 2026, seeking details about the functioning and financial expenditures of parliamentary committees from January 2025 onwards. Shesought lists of standing committees and their subcommittees, the number of meetings held, the total expenditure incurred on those meetings, and travel allowances paid to committee members and chairpersons. She also requested complete details of perks, privileges and other payments made to lawmakers serving on these committees.
After receiving no satisfactory response from the NA Secretariat, she filed an appeal with the PIC on July 5, 2026.
During the proceedings, the secretariat submitted its responses, which were shared with the applicant. However, she maintained, apart from the first question concerning the list of standing committees, the remaining 13 questions had not been answered.
Sehrish Mushtaq, litigation officer of the NA Secretariat, represented the department during the proceedings.
After examining the responses and information available on the NA’s official website, the commis-sion acknowledged that substantial parliamentary information had been published online. However, it observed that the material did not adequately address the specific questions. ‘The information provided does not meet the specific requirements set out in the information request,’ the commission stated in the order issued by Information Commissioner Ijaz Hassan Awan and Chief Information Commissioner Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui.
The commission emphasised that public bodies were required to provide objective and specific responses to information requests under the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017, even when relevant information was already available online.
Consequently, the commission directed the National Assembly secretary to provide complete and specific responses to questions numbered 2 to 14 within 10 days.
The commission scheduled implementation proceedings for Nov 19, to review compliance with its directive.