Indian Express: New
Delhi: Tuesday, June 04, 2013.
In a landmark
decision, the Central Information Commission (CIC) Monday announced that
political parties are public authorities under the Right to Information Act and
directed all national parties to appoint information officers and provide
information sought under the act within six weeks.
The CIC
justified its ruling saying these parties are organisations that are
substantially financed by the government. The national parties that come under
the ambit of this ruling are Congress, BJP, CPM, CPI, BSP and NCP.
In its
54-page order, a three-member CIC bench which included CIC Satyanand Mishra and
Information Commissioners M L Sharma and Annapurna Dixit, has directed the six
parties “to designate CPIOs and the appellate authorities at their
headquarters”.
Besides, they
are also directed “to comply with the provisions of the RTI Act by way of
making voluntary disclosures”. The order is limited to the six parties as
queries of appellants were only marked to them.
The CIC
ruling, which had been kept reserved on November 1, was delivered on the
complaints filed by RTI activist Subhash Agarwal and Anil Bairwal of the
Association for Democratic Reforms.
The two
wanted these parties to share information about their finances and voluntary
contributions received by them and the names and addresses of donors along with
other details. The parties had refused to comply saying they do not come under
the transparency law.
The bench
held the income-tax exemptions granted to the parties and free air-time given
by All India Radio and Doordarshan during elections as substantial indirect
financing from the government.
Before taking
the decision, the CIC had asked the income-tax department for details of
voluntary contributions received by these parties and the urban development
ministry about the terms and conditions of the land and buildings allotted to
them.
The order
says that these parties “have been substantially financed by the Central
government. The criticality of the role being played by these political parties
in our democratic set-up and the nature of duties performed by them also point
towards their public character”, bringing them under the ambit of the RTI Act.
The CIC held
that political parties “affect the lives of the citizens, directly or
indirectly in every conceivable way and are continuously engaged in performing
public duty. It is, therefore, important that they become accountable to
public”.
The order is
expected to lead to more transparency in the political system as the assets,
liabilities and criminal records of those contesting elections are already in
the public domain. While the order is limited to six national parties, its
ambit may later be extended to all recognised parties.
Citing a
Supreme Court order which held that the people of India must know the source of
expenditure incurred by political parties during elections, the CIC said these
judicial pronouncements unmistakably command progressively higher level of
transparency in the functioning of political parties in general and their
funding altogether.
“Political
parties are the unique institution of the modern constitutional state. These
are essentially political institutions and are non-governmental. The uniqueness
lies in the fact that in spite of being non-governmental, they come to wield or
directly and indirectly influence exercise of governmental power. It would be
odd to argue that transparency is good for all state organs but not so good for
political parties, which, in reality, control all the vital organs of the
state,” the bench has said.
During the
hearing, the ruling Congress and main opposition BJP made bland assertions that
they are not public authorities under the RTI Act. The CPM had also taken a
similar stand but the CPI’s views were confusing. While its former secretary
general A B Bardhan had conceded that the party is a public authority, the
incumbent, Sudhakar Reddy, had contradicted that stand.
Copy of Order
Copy of Order
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