With major parties on board, Government is set to move a bill in Monsoon Session of Parliament for amending RTI Act to overturn a Central Information Commission (CIC) order bringing six major political parties under the ambit of the transparency law.
Government sources said that the law Ministry had earlier cleared the Ordinance route to amend the Right to Information Act but since the dates of the Monsoon session have already been announced and some parties have expressed uneasiness over supporting the ordinance route, it has been decided to bring a bill before Parliament instead.
Sources claimed that back channel talks with all major parties have been concluded. BJP and SP have maintained that it will be difficult for them to support the Ordinance route to amend the RTI Act because they are opposing the Ordinance on food security.
At the same time, they said they would support amendments, if they are brought in form of a bill in the upcoming session beginning August 5, highly-placed sources in Government said.
The amendments state that declaring political parties as public authorities under the Right to Information Act would “hamper their smooth internal functioning since it will encourage political rivals to file RTI applications with malicious intentions”.
They maintain that the Representation of the People Act and the Income Tax Act provide sufficient transparency regarding financial aspects of political parties, it is learnt.