Why no information officer yet, CIC asks six parties

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has sent notice to six national political parties, including the Congress and the BJP, for ignoring its order to appoint information officers and entertain RTIs.

Besides the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, the notice was sent to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India, Nationalist Congress Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

The notice gave the parties a four-week time to explain the non-compliance.

The CIC, a quasi-judicial body, on a decision taken in June last year over an appeal by RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agarwal and the Association of Democratic Reforms' Anil Bairwal, declared the national parties as "public authorities".

This brought the parties under ambit of the Right to Information Act (RTI) and the parties were directed to appoint an information officer within six weeks.

While the six parties did not contest the decision in court, they also did not comply with the order.

"Now, therefore, show cause notices are issued to them to explain within four weeks as to why an inquiry should not be initiated in the matter of non-compliance of the commission's aforesaid order..." the notice said.

"Take further notice that if you fail to respond within the prescribed time, the matter will be processed further on the strength of the material on record, in accordance with law," the notice said.

The commission had issued notice Feb 7 and Mar 25 to these political parties seeking their detailed comments on the complaint of non-compliance of its order.