Indlaw.com:
New Delhi: Saturday, 23 August 2014.
The SC will examine the issue whether political
parties should make public the contributions received from abroad.
A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha today
issued notices to the Centre and the Election Commission of India (EC).
The notices have been issued on a petition filed
by Congress party against the ruling of Delhi HC directing it to provide
accounts of the foreign funding of the party.
According to Congress, political parties do not
come under the RTI act and Income Tax department is already having all the
details provided by the party in its annul Income Tax Returns. PARA/> The
party has further pleaded that the names of the contributors from abroad cannot
be provided under the RTI act.
Chief Information Commissioner(CIC) had earlier ruled
that political parties come within the purview of the RTI act and people have
every right to know the sources of their funding.
There have been allegations that major political
parties in the country do not disclose the source of major chunks of the funds
received by them.
Both Congress and BJP the two mainstream parties
of the country are under a cloud for their reluctance to reveal or disclose the
source of their funds.
The apex court has granted six weeks time to the
government and the EC to respond. UNI