Times of India: New Delhi: Monday, March 10,
2014.
Political
parties including Congress and BJP have ignored a four-week deadline set by the
Central Information Commission (CIC) and could be liable for Rs 25,000 fine or
even deregistration.
The
commission had issued a showcase notice on February 7 to six national political
parties Congress, BJP, NCP, BSP, CPI and CPM seeking an explanation on why they
had not complied by its June 3 order which mandated that the six parties came
under the information act and must appoint public information officers to
respond to RTI queries.
A full bench
of the commission had declared that the six political parties were
substantially funded indirectly by the central government and they had the
character of public authority under the RTI Act as they performed public
functions.
The
commission had given them six weeks to comply with the RTI Act but so far, none
of the parties has followed the direction prompting RTI activist Subhash
Agrawal, who was one of the petitioners in the case, to file three
non-compliance complaints before it.
Agrawal said
the commission should hold an early hearing and recommend stringent action
including deregistration of the parties to the Election Commission. CIC can
also fine a maximum penalty of Rs 25,000.
The CIC
inaction has been preceded by the government bringing a bill to exclude
political parties from the ambit of RTI Act. Though the bill was tabled in Lok
Sabha and received support from a parliamentary panel, it was finally not taken
up.
The stringent
opposition to "weakening" the act and the message that political
parties were against transparency led to the bill being put on hold. However,
CIC has dragged its feet in taking any action against political parties that
are clearly in violation of its own order.
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