Indian Express: New Delhi: Tuesday, August 15, 2017.
The CIC has
postponed the hearing by its newly constituted bench of complaints against
political parties for not adhering to its order to function within the ambit of
the RTI Act after a complainant alleged that it was not set up "properly
and legally".
Noted lawyer
and activist R K Jain has objected to the manner in which the earlier
three-member bench headed by Sridhar Acharyulu was dissolved without assigning
any reason and a new four-member bench was constituted by Chief Information
Commissioner R K Mathur.
Jain who is a
petitioner in complaints filed against six national parties the BJP, the
Congress, the CPM, the CPI, the BSP and the NCP has cited several verdicts of
the Supreme Court and High Courts to buttress his claim that the new bench did
not conform to courts' directives in various cases.
After the
submissions were received, a meeting was called by the Chief Information
Commissioner R K Mathur where it was decided to defer the hearing scheduled for
August 16 till legal opinion was taken.
In the file
notings related to postponement of the hearing it was recorded, "It seems
appropriate to seek legal opinion in the matter. The hearing by the bench in
the matter may be postponed till a view is taken in the matter."
A full Bench
of the Commission had brought six national parties the Congress, the BJP, the
NCP, the CPI, the CPM and the BSP under the ambit of the RTI Act on 3 June,
2013. But these parties did not adhere to directives of the Commission and did
not respond to RTI applications filed by Jain and other activists including Subhash
Agrawal.
Jain filed a
complaint against these parties with the Commission. Not getting a hearing, he
approached the Delhi High Court which directed the CIC to complete the hearing
within six months.
On July 22,
2016, a three-member Bench headed by Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu
started hearing the matter and Bimal Julka, one of its members, decided to
recuse himself citing workload in December last year. After his recusal, Mathur
had put the matter in abeyance.
No member of
the bench headed by Acharyulu, which had heard the matter for nearly five
months, has found a place on the new panel.
Earlier,
Acharyulu was taken off cases pertaining to the Ministry of Human Resource
Development after he ordered disclosure of academic records of the BA course of
Delhi University of 1978, the year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is
understood to have passed the examination.
In his
objection submitted to the Commission, Jain said the Chief Information
Commissioner has no power under the RTI Act to dissolve an already constituted
full bench of three information commissioners and form a fresh bench without
assigning or recording any reason. He said that none of the members on the new
bench possesses legal qualification and experience in the legal field which
goes against the directives of the Supreme Court in a separate matter related
to the RTI Act.
"The
full bench of three Information Commissioners, which has been dissolved, was
presided by M S Acharyulu who is a legally qualified person being LL.M. and
with experience in the legal field, while the present four-member bench
constituted in place thereof, does not comprise any member who possesses legal
qualifications and experience in the field of law," Jain claimed. It is
against the apex court directives, he added.
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