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RTI Act: Congress leads parties' charge against transparency
-The Times of India


NEW DELHI: Unease among political parties over being brought under the purview of the RTI Act became evident on Tuesday with Congress strongly opposed the Central Information Commission (CIC) order and BJP also expressing its reservations.

Barring CPI, no political party welcomed the decision. CPM said it cannot accept the CIC order as it felt opponents can use the ruling to "undermine" a political party. Janata Dal (U) also opposed the ruling.

The most forthright criticism of the CIC order came from finance minister P Chidambaram who said, "It is an unusual interpretation of the Act and not based on credible argument.'' Information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari said, "This is a very curious attempt to try and stretch the scope of the act. The legislative attempt was clear that government authorities should come under the act. If political parties were to come under the act, it would have been stated explicitly."

Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi termed the CIC order as an "adventurist" approach that will harm democratic institutions. "It is not acceptable. We totally disagree with it. Such an adventurist approach will create lot of harm and damage to democratic institutions. We simply cannot accept it,'' he said.

Leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said, "Because of the public character of political parties there is nothing wrong in making their funding public.'' But he added that other entities like NGOs or even private enterprises that have received concessions from the government should be made similarly accountable.

"The order needs to be studied and debated. There should not exceptions and the law's provisions must be applied uniformly," Jaitley said, indicating that he felt political parties should not be singled out under RTI provisions.

Expressing "astonishment and shock", JD U) leader Sharad Yadav said the order was "no way justified" as "political parties are not shops". Asserting JD(U) is against the move, Yadav said he wanted the central government to seek annulment of the order.

Left parties are split in their reaction to the order with CPI welcoming the move and CPM opposing it. CPM in a statement, said it "cannot accept" the CIC order as "opponents of a political party can use the order to destabilize the party.'' The party said, "This decision is based on a fundamental misconception about the role of political parties in a parliamentary democracy," adding that CPM is not funded by the government and is accountable only to its members.

On the other hand, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta welcomed the CIC decision, saying, "We welcome it. We want RTI to be extended to political parties because political parties are a part of the political establishment of the country. We will not challenge it in the court of law."

Dasgupta said, "If we want government to be transparent then political parties who often run the government should themselves be transparent and accountable. The grip of the black money on the political system is increasing, so people have a right to know from where political parties are getting their funds and building their properties.''

CIC held six national parties - Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI-M, CPI and BSP - have been substantially funded indirectly by the central government and they have the character of public authority under the RTI Act as they perform public functions.