CIC avoids issuing show cause notice to political parties

The Central Information Commission today summoned six national political parties to appear before it on January 7 next year to explain their position on non- compliance of its directives for which they are liable to be penalised but avoided issuing any show cause notice.
"This Commission directs the Presidents and/or the General Secretaries of the six political parties to appear before this Commission for a hearing on 7th January, 2015 (Wednesday) at 4:00 pm and produce all relevant documents/records relating to this matter," a Full Bench of CIC comprising former bureaucrats said here.
The transparency panel which is a quasi-judicial body said it has taken into account the submissions made by the appellants during the hearing which all the six parties gave a miss.

"We have taken into account the submissions made by the parties during the hearing and gone through the material on record. The hearing, in context of the notice of 03.11.2014, has thrown up some questions, which need reflection and due consideration before any final orders are passed," the CIC said in the interim order.
CIC said question which needs to be answered include the nature and scope of this Commission's functioning as envisaged in the RTI Act to follow up on the compliance of its orders and directions, addressing a situation where the respondents do not engage in the process, such as the present instance where the political parties have not appeared in the hearing on November 21 and the need to identify the steps requisite for ensuring implementation of this Commission's order declaring them as public authority under the RTI Act.

The Commission has to impose a penalty if information is not provided under the RTI Act. According to various High Court orders, imposing penalty is not optional as per the RTI Act.