Saturday, August 23, 2014

SC to decide if political parties should reveal source of foreign funding

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