No plan to amend RTI Act for parties

The Statesman: New Delhi: Monday, June 10, 2013.

Despite suggestions from political parties, the government does not plan to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act to give them immunity from the Central Information Commission (CIC) order which brought them under the transparency law at par with public authorities.

The Congress leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr Manish Tewari, clarifying the government stand, has said that an amendment to the Income Tax Act would work better towards bringing transparency. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which acts as the nodal department for implementation of the RTI Act, has gone through the order and believes there was nothing that warranted the RTI amendment.

“If a party is aggrieved by the CIC's order, they can always take remedial measures and may appeal against it before designated courts,” a senior DoPT official said. The official said the Ministry is willing to clarify in case of any ambiguity in the order. “If a political party writes to us, we will certainly provide clarification on matters related to the Act,” the official said.

In a landmark ruling, the CIC had on 3 June held that political parties are public authorities and answerable to citizens under the RTI Act. The Commission had said six national parties ~ Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI-M, CPI and BSP ~ have been substantially funded indirectly by the Central government and they have the character of public authority under the RTI Act as they perform public functions.

Asked why was the party scared if it is subjected to the RTI, Mr Tewari said at a CNN-IBN programme, “I think you need to make a distinction out here. For all donations which are above Rs 20,000, the donors are revealed to the Income Tax authorities.”

On claims that most of their donations come under Rs 20,000, so they are hidden, he said, “Look at it in a broader perspective. Look at a party which has a presence across 6,30,000 villages in this country...So, you have a lot of small donors who contribute out of political conviction.” Asked why the donations cannot be revealed to the country, the minister said, “For that you don't need the RTI. All that you need to do is make an amendment to the IT Act.”