M A I N   N E W S

Cong, Left reject CIC order to bring parties under RTI Act
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 4
Major political parties today protested the decision of the Central Information Commission (CIC) to bring them under the ambit of Right to Information Act with the Congress and the Left parties questioning the move while the BJP taking a divergent stand.

The CIC on Monday held that national parties have been substantially funded by the Central Government and they have the character of public authority under the RTI Act as they perform public functions. The petition was filed by activist Subhash Chandra Aggarwal and Anil Bairwal of the Association of Democratic Rights.

The Congress, which claims credit to have drafted the law, categorically rejected the decision suggesting that such “adventurist approach” will damage democratic institutions. “It is not acceptable. We totally disagree with it. Such adventurist approach will create a lot of harm and damage to democratic institutions. Getting political parties entangled in such unnecessary things will damage the democratic process,” Janardan Dwivedi, Congress general secretary and head of its media department said.

Describing the CIC order as a rather unusual interpretation of the law, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said extending the description of “public authority to political parties” strains credulity and does not appear to be very credible.

On the other hand, the BJP maintained it was not against any step that ushers in transparency and accountability. Party spokesman Capt Abhimanyu said: “The BJP is not against anything that brings transparency and accountability which is equally applicable to all. We will follow the law.”

However, BJP ally Janata Dal-United (JD-U) criticised the ruling. JD-U president Sharad Yadav expressed both “astonishment and shock” over the order stating that the party was totally against the move. “I fail to understand the logic behind the CIC order.

There is already a Constitutional body — Election Commission — to which every political party is answerable and is bound to function under its directives. For any small or big deficiency in the conduct of a party, that party receives immediate notice from the EC.

Does the CIC order now mean that political parties will have two bosses --- the EC and the CIC''? Yadav asked.

The JD (U) chief questioned the decision also on the grounds that how could political parties be asked to divulge information about the inner workings, a view echoed by the CPM that interpreted the implication of the RTI as “serious infringement on inner-party functioning.”

Rejecting the order, the CPM said political parties cannot be treated as “public authorities” and argued that the decision was based on a fundamental misconception about the role of political parties in a parliamentary democracy. The party Politbureau said one of the concerns of the CIC seems to be transparency of the funding and finances of political parties. "At present, according to the law, all political parties are required to submit their accounts to the Income Tax department and the Election Commission. Already under the RTI, the statement of accounts and the finances of the parties are accessible to anyone from the Election Commission. Any more details of the financing of the party can be sought for and has to be given,” it said. The CPM has from the outset taken the stand that the financial statements and accounts of a party should be publicly available, it said. "But this does not mean that a political party has to be treated as a public authority," said the Politbureau.

“Given the serious implications of this order of the CIC for the political party system and parliamentary democracy, the matter should be discussed by the government with all political parties so that suitable steps can be taken to preserve the integrity and the role of political parties in a democratic political system'', it said.