Sherry Rehman’s bill states in Section 3 that notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, and subject to this act, no requester shall be denied access to any public record other than exemptions mentioned in this act.
“This Act shall be interpreted so as to (i) promote the right to information as a constitutional right; (ii) facilitate and encourage, promptly and at the lowest reasonable cost, the disclosure of information; and (iii) All public bodies falling within the ambit of this Act shall publish, in simple terms, a yearly report on documents and activities of relevance to the public including information on organisational structure, norm and functioning, budget and finance, content of decisions and activities affecting the public and efforts to include public consultation in decision making,” the bill proposes.
PREVENTION OF ANTI-WOMEN PRACTICES ACT: The House also passed some clauses of a private member bill, “The Prevention of Anti-Women Practices (Criminal Law Amendment) Act 2010”, moved by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) MNA Dr Donya Aziz. The entire bill could not be passed because of opposition by some members on legal grounds.
