CIC issues showcause notices to Sonia Gandhi, Amit Shah

The Central Information Commission (CIC) issued showcause notices to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi along with the heads of four other political parties, asking why an inquiry should not be instituted in the matter of non-compliance of its order to implement the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Last year, on a plea by activist Subhash Agrawal, the CIC had declared six national parties - Congress, BJP, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Bahujan Samaj Party - as public authorities, thereby bringing them under the ambit of the RTI Act.