With a consensus eluding, the Government on Thursday referred the RTI (Amendment) Bill, 2013, which seeks to keep political parties out of the purview of the RTI Act, to the Standing Committee.
Though the Bill was listed to pass, the Government changed its stand after the Opposition parties opined that the passage of legislation in haste would be seen in bad light. Also, sending it to the Standing Committee would enable wider consultations, said the Opposition leaders in the Business Advisory Committee meeting held.
Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy, who piloted the Bill, said in a bid to hold wider consultations, the Government is recommending that the legislation be referred to the Standing Committee on law and Personnel for an elaborate study.
The Bill is aimed at negating a Central Information Commission (CIC) order which said political parties were public authorities and should come under RTI Act ambit. The amendment Bill seeks to insert an explanation in Section 2 of the Act which states that any association or body of individuals registered or recognised as political party under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 will not be considered a public authority.
The CIC order had termed Congress, BJP, BSP, NCP, CPI and CPI-M as political authorities. The CIC order is still operational and people can seek information on political parties through RTI application. Government had already made it clear that it will not challenge the CIC order in High Court — appellate court — but bring a Bill instead to negate the verdict.
Most of the leaders had come out against the CIC verdict, claiming that this verdict would open floodgates and the questions regarding inner-party democracy can’t be answered under RTI. Narayanasamy said, “The Standing Committee will submit the report before the start of the next session and then we will take it before the House.”