The Hindu: New Delhi: Monday, May 28, 2018.
The BJP, the
Congress, the BSP, the NCP, the CPI and the CPI(M) were brought under the RTI
Act by a Central Information Commission ruling on June 3, 2013.
Political
parties are out of the purview of the RTI Act, the Election Commission has said
in an order which is contrary to the Central Information Commission’s directive
bringing six national parties under the transparency law.
The poll
panel statement, which may prove to be controversial, came while deciding the
appeal of an RTI applicant seeking to know donations collected by six national
parties who were brought under the ambit of the transparency law by the CIC in
June 2013.
“Requisite
information is not available in the Commission. This is related to political parties
and they are out of purview of the RTI. They may submit information of
donation/amount collected through by electoral bonds in their contribution
report for the financial year 2017-18 in the ECI for which the due date is
September 30, 2018,” the appeal order citing comment of the Central Public
Information Officer (CPIO) has said. Pune-based Vihar Dhurve had sought to know
through RTI the details of donations collected by six national parties the BJP,
the Congress, the BSP, the NCP, the CPI and the CPI(M) and the Samajwadi Party
through the newly-introduced electoral bonds.
Political
parties under RTI Act: Full coverage
The First
Appellate Authority in the Election Commission K.F. Wilfred, the Senior
Principal Secretary in the poll panel, wrote in the order that he agrees with
the view taken by the CPIO.
Six national
parties the BJP, the Congress, the BSP, the NCP, the CPI and the CPI(M) for
which information was sought by the applicant were brought under the ambit of
the RTI Act by a full bench of the commission on June 3, 2013. (The Trinamool
Congress was recognised as the seventh national party in September 2016).
The order has
not been challenged in the higher courts but the political parties have refused
to entertain the RTI applications directed at them. Several activists have
approached the Supreme Court on the grounds of non-compliance of the CIC order
and the matter is pending.
When it comes
to the RTI Act, the Central Information Commission is the only appellate
authority which may declare a body as public authority if it is convinced that
the organisation fits into the criteria for being under the Right to Information
Act.
“When the
Central Information Commission has declared six national political parties as
public authority, the Election Commission cannot take a position contrary to
that unless the order of the CIC has been overturned by the Supreme Court or
High Courts. The order of EC has no merit,” former Chief Information
Commissioner A.N. Tiwari told PTI.
Venkatesh
Nayak, a noted RTI activist, said the public information officer of the
Election Commission has exceeded his limits in giving this order. “The June
2013 order of the CIC bringing six national political parties under the RTI Act
remains in force even if the political parties do not obey it. It has not been
stayed or set aside by any court. Therefore, as far as national political
parties are concerned they are squarely covered under the RTI Act,” Mr. Nayak
said.
He added that
all the information about State and national parties, which is held by the
Election Commission of India fall under the RTI Act and the CPIO is bound to
make disclosure about them rather than taking position that these political
parties are out of the purview of the RTI Act.
When
contacted over phone about the controversial statement in the order, Mr.
Wilfred said he meant that not all political parties are covered under the RTI
Act. But when asked that the RTI appeal pertained to the six political parties
which are under the RTI Act, as per the CIC order, he did not give any
explanation except to say that the DoPT has issued an order that when an RTI
plea pertains to multiple public authorities, it is not compulsory to transfer
the question to them.
However, the
order signed by him does not mention this. He had, however, transferred a
question related to meeting held with political parties on the issue of
electoral bonds to the Finance Ministry.
.JPG)
.JPG)
