The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to challenge two separate orders passed by the Pakistan Information Commission.
As per the details, the orders had told the board to disclose extensive financial, contractual and operational information about national cricketers, selection committee members and other PCB officials under the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017.
Advocate Kashif Ali Malik filed the petitions in the IHC on behalf of the board. While the first petition challenged the commission’s July 9 order requiring the PCB to disclose its annual budgets for the financial years 2023 to 2025 along with a detailed breakdown of expenditure, it also sought that the board revealed its policies on the confidentiality and disclosure of such information, details of players and officials who travelled for this year’s T20 World Cup besides details of the board’s audit mechanisms and reports.
The second petition concerns information tied to Pakistan’s ODI series against South Africa, held at Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad in November 2025. Through this order, the commission had directed the PCB to provide a breakdown of revenue and expenditure from the series, along with details of steps taken or proposed to upgrade Iqbal Stadium ahead of PSL Season 12.
It may be noted that the PCB has in recent years stopped publishing the its financial statements on the website. These statements had previously detailed expenditure across all departments, including the chairman’s office.
In its petitions, the PCB argues that it operates in a highly competitive international sporting environment. Unlike government departments funded through the public exchequer, the board says it receives no funding from the federal government or the Consolidated Fund.
Instead, it generates revenue primarily through commercial activities. These include broadcasting rights, sponsorship agreements, media rights, gate receipts, licensing arrangements, international cricket events and distributions from the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The PCB contends that the commission’s orders wrongly assume all the requested information falls under Section 5 of the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017, arguing the orders ignore the exemptions set out in Section 16 of the Act, which protect personal privacy, confidential contractual arrangements, commercially sensitive information and third-party interests.
The board maintains that the information sought goes beyond institutional expenditure and extends into confidential contractual and personal financial information of identifiable individuals. It argues the commission’s orders fail to distinguish between institutional transparency and private financial affairs.
The PCB has further submitted that disclosing confidential remuneration structures and contractual terms would prejudice its commercial interests and ongoing contractual negotiations.
