Economic Times: New Delhi: Monday,
April 03, 2017.
Chief
Information Commissioner R K Mathur has directed to keep "in
abeyance" the matter pertaining to political parties not adhering to the
Right To Information Act, thus putting the controversial issue in cold storage.
The note, in
this regard, was issued after Bimal Julka, one of the members of the bench
hearing the case, recused himself on December 23, 2016.
"Till
the bench is reconstituted or a decision taken on IC (BJ) note, the proceedings
may temporarily remain in abeyance," Mathur had stated on December 29,
2016.
Nearly three
months later, there is no word on replacement of Julka in the bench and the
matter hangs in a limbo.
The file
notings have now been disclosed by the Central Information Commission under the
Right to Information (RTI) Act to activist R K Jain, who had filed a complaint
against political parties.
Mathur's
direction to keep the hearing in abeyance comes in spite of a 2014 order of the
Delhi High Court to the Commission to decide within six months the complaint
filed by Jain.
The activist
has alleged that the parties were not replying to RTI applications and have not
put in place any infrastructure mandated under the RTI Act.
Six national
parties including BJP, Congress, NCP, CPI(M), CPI and BSP were brought under
the ambit of the RTI Act by a Full Bench of the Commission on June 3, 2013.
This order
was neither challenged in a High Court nor changed but the political parties
have refused to entertain the RTI applications directed at them.
Jain used section
18 of the RTI Act which allows a petitioner to file a case against a public
authority if his application is not responded to within 30 days or if the
public authority has not put in place mandatory infrastructure to handle the
applications.
The Commission
under this mechanism can slap a penalty, maximum of Rs 25,000, on the public
authority if it is reasonably satisfied about the guilt of the authority.
The complaint
of Jain against political parties was being heard by a Full Bench comprising of
Information Commissioners Sridhar Acharyulu, Sudhir Bhargava and Bimal Julka.
The bench
started hearing the case on July 22, 2016 and within six months, Julka abruptly
recused himself from the bench citing work in his own registry.