Ordinance possible to let political parties off RTI hook

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is reportedly ready to issue an ordinance to allow all political parties to stay out of the ambit of the national Right To Information (RTI) Act.

On June 3, the Central Information Commission (CIC), appellate authority for the RTI Act, had stated that all six parties with 'national status' under the Election Commission of India rules - the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Nationalist Congress Party, the two major communist parties (CPI-M, CPI) and the Bahujan Samaj Party - were indirectly funded by the Union government and they must come under RTI since they perform public functions.

The Union government has circulated a note, stating political parties as public authorities under the RTI would hamper their smooth internal functioning, since it will encourage political rivals to file RTI applications with malicious intentions. The Congress and BJP have already said all political parties already file annual returns to the income tax department, which are already available to people and organisations under the RTI. Hence, there was no reason to bring all political parties under RTI.

Other political parties, too, have criticised the CIC order.

"I am sure you realise that an ordinance should only be promulgated when there is a great urgency," says Shailesh Gandhi, a former member of the CIC in a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee, urging him to ask the government not to go ahead with an ordinance.

"Curtailing a citizen's fundamental right and issuing an ordinance to frustrate a statutory order are morally and legally repugnant. Frustrating an existing law arbitrarily will not promote the rule of law. I plead with you to consider whether it would be right to curb citizens' fundamental rights by ordinance when there appears to be no need for immediate action," Gandhi's letter says.