Political parties oppose CIC's move to bring them under RTI Act

04 Jun 2013 Evaluate

Political parties have come out opposing the Central Information Commission (CIC) order of bringing political parties under jurisdiction of the Right to Information Act (RTI). Both JD(U) and Congress party opposed the order and the decision taken by CIC by pointing out Political parties are not Government Bodies.

The CIC had said that since government subsidizes buildings and facilities for political parties, they qualify to be termed public offices, which are subject to RTI. A Full Bench of the Commission held six parties - the Congress, the BJP, the CPI-M, the CPI, the NCP and the BSP - to whom RTI queries were directed, fulfill the criteria of being public authorities under the Right to Information Act, and also directed them to comply with the provisions of mandatory proactive disclosures clauses given under the RTI Act and put those details on their websites.

During the hearing, Anil Bairwal of Association of Democratic Reforms raised three principal points justifying his arguments that parties were under the RTI Act - indirect substantial financing by the central government, performance of public duty and Constitutional and legal provisions vesting them with rights and liabilities.

Political parties are the unique institution of the modern constitutional State. These are essentially political institution and are non-governmental. The uniqueness lies in the fact that inspite of being non-governmental, they come to wield or directly and indirectly influence exercise of governmental power. So India must know the source of expenditure incurred by political parties during elections, the CIC said these judicial pronouncements unmistakably command progressively higher level of transparency in the functioning of political parties in general and their funding altogether.

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