Economic
Times: New Delhi: Thursday, 28 August 2014.
The Delhi
High Court has directed the Central Information Commission to decide in six
months a complaint against Congress President Sonia Gandhi on the issue of
non-compliance of transparency panel's directions that the party was answerable
under the RTI Act.
Noted RTI
activist R K Jain had approached the Commission with his complaint against
Gandhi saying that the party had returned his RTI application dated February 7,
2014 without answering.
A full bench
of the Commission had declared Congress along with five other national
parties-- BJP, CPI, CPI-M, NCP and BSP-- as public authorities making them
answerable under the RTI Act.
Refusal to
provide information or not furnishing complete information is deemed an offence
under the RTI which attracts a penalty of Rs 250 per day from the date
information became due to the day it was furnished on the public information
officer of the public authority.
None of the
political party has so far received any stay order against the decision of the
Commission declaring these parties as public authorities which implies that
they must adopt the procedures of processing the RTI application as given in
the transparency law.
But when Jain
sent his RTI application, seeking to know from Congress party the steps taken
by it to implement the RTI Act and designated officials to respond to the RTI
applications, the party refused to "take delivery" and returned the
envelope.
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