The Central Information Commission (CIC) has issued show-cause notices to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and BJP President Amit Shah along with the heads of four other political parties asking why an inquiry should not be instituted in the matter of non-compliance of its order to implement the RTI Act. The Commission’s action came after all the parties refused to share information under RTI Act and questioned its authority.
last year, on a plea by RTI activist Subhash Agrawal, the CIC had declared six national parties — Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI, CPI-M and BSP — as public authorities, thereby bringing them under the ambit of the Right to Information Act. None the parties either contested the decision in courts or followed the instructions of the panel. The Commission had issued notices on February 7 and March 25 to these political parties seeking their detailed comments on the complaint by Agrawal that they had not complied with the orders of the CIC.
All the six political parties responded to the Commission, stating their objections for treating them as ‘public authorities’ under RTI Act. They argued that all the parties are providing funding details to Income Tax and Election Commission and these documents are available in public domain. The parties also contended that the ambit of RTI cannot be entertained in the internal party decision making and other internal matters. According to them internal party affairs were only limited to party members and it never come under RTI.
The UPA Government had said this controversial decision of CIC would be challenged in Court and would bring amendment to RTI rules to redefine the meaning of the word ‘public authority’ in the Act. The BJP and other political parties had supported the move. However, no such move was initiated by the Manmohan Singh government at that time.
“Therefore, a notice is issued to show cause within four weeks as to why an inquiry should not be initiated in the matter of non-compliance of the Commission’s order dated June 3, 2013, under Section 18 of the RTI Act, 2005... Take further notice that if you fail to respond within prescribed time, the matter will be processed on the strength of material on record, in accordance with law,” the notice said.
The notice has been sent to the chiefs of Congress, BJP, BSP and NCP and to the general secretaries of CPI and CPI-M. The move comes close on the heels of a Delhi High Court order which directed the Commission to decide in six months on a complaint against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi regarding the issue of non-compliance with the transparency panel’s directions that the party was answerable under the RTI Act.