Narayanasamy tables RTI Amendment Bill in Parliament, political parties exempted from Act's ambit(Update/RTI Amendment Bill)

Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) V.Narayanasamy introduced the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2005 in the Lok Sabha on Monday, the fifth day of the second half of the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

According to the government, the amended version of the Bill has come into force with effect June 3, 2013.

According to the amended version of the original Bill, any authority or body or institution of self government established or constituted by any law made by Parliament, shall not include any association or body of individuals registered or recognised as a political party under the Representation of People Act 1951.

This amendment has made in Section Two of the existing Act.

The amended version of the Bill further goes on to say in Section 32 that: "Notwithstanding anything contained in any judgment, decree or order of any court or commission, the provisions of this Act as amended by the Right to Information (Amendement) Act, 2013, shall have effect, and shall be deemed always to have effect, in the case of any association or body of individuals registered or recognised as a political party under the Representation of People Act, 1951, or any other law for the time being in force, and the rules made, or notifications issued thereunder."

These two amendments effectively exempt all recognised and registered political parties from the ambit of the RTI Act.

The Amendment Bill was introduced today by the government following a June 2013 ruling of the Central Information Commission (CIC) in which it concluded that political parties should be considered to be public authorities within the RTI Act as they perform public functions and receive substantial funding from the government.

As a result, the CIC brought six major political parties under the transparency and information requirements of the RTI Act.

The political parties were directed to designate a Central Public Information Officer and appellate authorities at their headquarters.

They were also directed to make voluntary disclosures as per the RTI Act. As per news reports, the Cabinet note on the Amendment Bill also has a validation clause, declaring that the amendment will take effect retrospectively, from the date on which the CIC order was passed.