Should political parties be covered under RTI Act?
24 Sep, 2012In response to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, all the major political parties of the country have refused to make the names of their largest donors public and have argued that they are not a “public authority” as per the Right to Information Act, 2005.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a NGO, filed separate applications under the RTI Act asking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indian National Congress (INC), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) asking specific questions about their donors, quantum of donations and the addresses of the donors. When the political parties refused to provide information, the NGO filed a complaint with the Central Information Commission (CIC) in March, 2011 to direct the political parties to give this information. Now, on September 26, the full bench of the Central Information Commission (CIC) is going to hear the matter. On a similar matter, the CIC is also going to hear the complaint of Subhash Agarwal, an RTI activist.
The only party which agreed that it is a public authority was Communist Party of India (CPI) which not only provided the information but also provide the details of the First Appellate Authority which could be approached if the appellant was not satisfied with its reply. In a letter signed by the then general secretary, A.B. Bardhan, the party said it was a public authority and the organisation was “substantially financed, directly or indirectly through the appropriate government.”
The CIC has notice issued to all the political parties and also the Election Commission of India.
In a democracy, should the functioning of political parties be left to themselves or would opening them to scrutiny open up ways for strengthening the system? Should the political parties create space for engagement with the citizens and open themselves to public scrutiny?
Section 2(h) “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; says "public authority" means any authority or body or institution of self- government established or constituted—
(a) by or under the Constitution;
(b) by any other law made by Parliament;
(c) by any other law made by State Legislature;
(d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government,
and includes any—
(i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed;
(ii) non-Government organisation substantially financed,
directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government.