Times of India: New Delhi:
Saturday, August 03, 2013.
Countering
the Central Information Commission's order on inclusion of political parties
under the ambit of RTI Act, the government on Friday said the order was
"flawed" and performing a public function was not a test for a public
authority. The government's stout defence came a day after the Cabinet cleared
amendments to the RTI Act excluding political parties from its remit.
Justifying
the move, law minister Kapil Sibal said, "Political parties are not public
authorities. A political party is a voluntary association of persons. People
can join or leave a party. We get elected. We are not appointed like
officials."
The Cabinet
has approved an amendment to Section 2(h) of the Act on the grounds that
political parties are not public authorities and, hence, this law does not
apply to them. The second amendment says that parties cannot be brought under
the Act regardless of any order passed by a court or a tribunal.
Sibal said
political parties were only registered and recognized under the Representation
of the People Act, 1951. "Political parties will not be able to function
(if they are brought within RTI).... While we respect the CIC we are concerned
that if this were done it will strike at the root of the political
system," he said.
The minister
maintained that if political parties are brought under the purview of the Act,
they will be flooded with applications seeking information about candidate
selection, who dissented or differed on which decision and other such sensitive
details. Accepting that more needs to be done to bring about transparency in
the functioning of political parties, he indicated that it could not be through
RTI.
Asked why the
government had not gone to court against the CIC order and instead decided to
amend the law, Sibal said since the CIC order was operative, this was
a"matter of urgency". Therefore, the government is planning to move a
bill to overturn the order, he said. "We wanted aquick resolution,"
he added.
The
government has kept the option of approaching the high court, which is the
appellate authority on CIC orders, to seek relief in case there is any further
delay.
Asked about
the clause exempting sharing of details of all contributions under Rs 20,000,
Sibal said the law is there to deal with any party which may be flouting the
rules.
Information
and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari maintained that small contributions,
which may come from people not so welloff and living in rural areas, should
also be appreciated. However, the government was evasive on why the identity of
those making contributions below Rs 20,000 should not be shared. He maintained
that the Election Commission took initiative from time to time to make the
political system more transparent and accountable.