Islamabad High Court stays PIC order on PCB audit disclosure
Islamabad High Court suspends Pakistan Information Commission order requiring PCB to disclose financial records until September 22.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has got a stay order against the directives by the Pakistan Information Commission to reveal details of its finances including audit reports, annual budgets and salaries and other perks given to players, coaches, selectors and officials. The Islamabad High Court on a petition filed by the PCB against the PIC order has suspended it until the next hearing on 22 September.
The PCB went to the IHC after the PIC made it clear they had to disclose all financial dealings and details under the Right to Known Information Act 2017. The PIC had issued the order to PCB on July 9. A single-member bench of Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar issued notices to respondents for September 22, 2026, while taking up the writ petition filed by the PCB through advocate Kashif Ali Malik.
The PCB contended that the impugned order was passed in excess of jurisdiction and in violation of the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017. It argued that the Commission had failed to distinguish between information liable to proactive disclosure under Section 5 and information protected under statutory exemptions relating to personal privacy, confidential contractual arrangements, commercially sensitive data, and third-party interests.
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The stay keeps the PCB's financial statements out of public view for at least another six weeks and buys the board time to negotiate the scope of disclosure before the next hearing.