At long last the long held and cherished dream of many an avowed right to information act (RTI) activist has come true for the time being at least.......
In a landmark judgement that is bound to have far reaching consequences and bring a smile to the visage of many a RTI activist, the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) has ruled that political parties are public authorities who are bound to to respond to all RTI related queries within a specified six week period as envisaged by the same act.....
This welcome as well as long overdue ruling effectively lifts the veil or shroud of secrecy that engulfed the holier than thou political parties until now and the same will have little or no choice apart from sharing all pertinent information about their sources of funding and expenditure incurred under various heads........
Political parties and their affiliated state or regional units were forced to bite the dust on Monday as the CIC put paid to their hopes and aspirations of remaining outside the purview of this increasingly contentious act by saying that six national parties namely the Indian National Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist party of India (Marxist), Communist party of India as well as the Bahujan Samaj Party have been substantially if not completely funded through the back door or indirectly by the central and hence cannot remain impervious to the jurisdiction of the RTI act........
The CIC's opinion on this issue was made clear in a 54 page long order that even said that all the above mentioned six national parties will also have to share and provide details about both their major as well as minor donors if asked to do so........
The CIC ruled that political parties have the "character of public authority" under the RTI act as they perform and discharge public functions; this landmark judgement or ruling came in the wake of a petition filed by those activists who failed to receive a satisfactory as well as timely reply from the concerned political parties about the identities and other relevant details about their top 10 donors.........
RTI activists would be best served by filing petitions and garnering all the information they seek from these political parties about their sources of funding and such other information they require as sources close to all the afore mentioned political parties have clearly mentioned the fact that these parties intend approaching both the Delhi high court as well as apex court in order to have this ruling made by the CIC set aside at the earliest as they are of the informed opinion that this ruling impinges on their freedom and seriously jeopardises their sources of funding........
So make the best of the sunshine while it lasts as dark clouds will soon engulf the horizon the very minute the courts decide to set aside this landmark judgement or ruling by the CIC at the behest of the aggrieved political parties.........
In a landmark judgement that is bound to have far reaching consequences and bring a smile to the visage of many a RTI activist, the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) has ruled that political parties are public authorities who are bound to to respond to all RTI related queries within a specified six week period as envisaged by the same act.....
This welcome as well as long overdue ruling effectively lifts the veil or shroud of secrecy that engulfed the holier than thou political parties until now and the same will have little or no choice apart from sharing all pertinent information about their sources of funding and expenditure incurred under various heads........
Political parties and their affiliated state or regional units were forced to bite the dust on Monday as the CIC put paid to their hopes and aspirations of remaining outside the purview of this increasingly contentious act by saying that six national parties namely the Indian National Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist party of India (Marxist), Communist party of India as well as the Bahujan Samaj Party have been substantially if not completely funded through the back door or indirectly by the central and hence cannot remain impervious to the jurisdiction of the RTI act........
The CIC's opinion on this issue was made clear in a 54 page long order that even said that all the above mentioned six national parties will also have to share and provide details about both their major as well as minor donors if asked to do so........
The CIC ruled that political parties have the "character of public authority" under the RTI act as they perform and discharge public functions; this landmark judgement or ruling came in the wake of a petition filed by those activists who failed to receive a satisfactory as well as timely reply from the concerned political parties about the identities and other relevant details about their top 10 donors.........
RTI activists would be best served by filing petitions and garnering all the information they seek from these political parties about their sources of funding and such other information they require as sources close to all the afore mentioned political parties have clearly mentioned the fact that these parties intend approaching both the Delhi high court as well as apex court in order to have this ruling made by the CIC set aside at the earliest as they are of the informed opinion that this ruling impinges on their freedom and seriously jeopardises their sources of funding........
So make the best of the sunshine while it lasts as dark clouds will soon engulf the horizon the very minute the courts decide to set aside this landmark judgement or ruling by the CIC at the behest of the aggrieved political parties.........
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