PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Commission has ordered the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project (KPCIP) to submit information sought by a citizen within five working days after the department failed to furnish the required record despite earlier directions.
The order was issued on September 16, 2026, in Complaint No 14475 filed by Muhammad Naeem against KPCIP, which works under the Local Government, Elections and Rural Development Department in Peshawar.
According to the accompanying information, the KPCIP project in Mardan is a Rs10 billion public development scheme, making public access to its records an important transparency issue.
The commission noted that Muhammad Naeem had filed a formal information request with KPCIP on September 4, 2026. The request was to be processed under Section 10 read with Section 11 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Act, 2013.
However, the public body did not deal with the request in the manner prescribed under the law, after which the complainant approached the KP Information Commission.
In its order, the commission said it had directed the public body on several occasions to provide the complete information sought by the citizen. Despite those directions, the record was still not supplied.
The commission observed that non-compliance with its directions called for a hearing under Section 26 of the law. The Public Information Officer of the department was then summoned to appear before the commission on September 16, 2026, so that the complaint could be decided on merit without further delay.
During the hearing, Umair Hussain Khattak, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of KPCIP, appeared on behalf of the department. He assured the commission that the required information would be provided within a reasonable time.
After hearing the department’s representative, the commission directed the Public Information Officer to submit the requested information to the commission within five working days. The order emphasised that the record must be provided within the given timeframe.
The matter underlines the importance of access to information in public-sector development schemes financed through public money. Under the law, citizens are entitled to seek information from public bodies, while government departments are required to process such requests in accordance with legal procedure.
In the case of a project described in the accompanying information as a Rs10 billion scheme in Mardan, access to records can help citizens understand the allocation of funds, ongoing activities and use of public resources.
The commission’s order does not make any finding of financial wrongdoing against KPCIP. However, it records that the requested information had not been provided despite repeated directions.
The decision now gives the department a specific deadline to place the record before the commission and enables the citizen’s complaint to proceed under the legal process. The next course of action will depend on whether KPCIP complies with the order within five working days.
The order was signed by the Chief Information Commissioner and Commissioner I. Copies were sent to the Project Director of the KPCIP Project Management Unit, Umair Hussain Khattak, the relevant department and the Deputy Director of Information Technology at the KP Information Commission for publication on the commission’s official website.
The case also reflects the role of the KP Information Commission in ensuring that public bodies respond to lawful information requests and that citizens are able to seek answers about public projects and spending.
