Every citizen, except political parties, welcomed Central Information Commission (CIC) recent judgment. But from political perspective, "This order is going to have far reaching impact on accountability in political system which is currently polluted by corruption" Most intellectuals say, that Congress party leading UPA II has now realized their 'self mistake' by introducing RTI Act without thorough studies! And for very sure, now All Political Parties will get together, forgetting their secular-communal credentials, and amend the RTI Act and get them out of RTI ambient. They may even come out with something like 'political party protection act.' We need not be surprised if they bring out this Act! LITIGATION IN BRIEF:
As per RTI Act, the definition of 'public authority' contained in Section 2(h) and the definition of 'substantially financed' contained in Section 2 (i) compelled the full bench of Central Information Commission (CIC) to pass the landmark judgment of bringing political parties under ambit of RTI Act. According to the legal provisions, the RTI Act is applicable only to public authorities, which is defined as any authority body established by or under the constitution; by a law made by Parliament or state legislature; by a government notification. It includes anybody owned, controlled or substantially financed institution by the government. Upholding the definitions of 'public authority' and 'substantially financed' as argued by two litigants with documentary evidence, CIC declared that political parties as public authorities, thereby, bringing them under Right to Information (RTI) Act. The full bench of the Commission, which had reserved its order after hearing the representations of litigants and political parties, made their judgment public on last Monday. The Commission has given six weeks time to political parties to appoint central public information officers and the appellate authorities to respond to RTI queries. During the hearing before the CIC, the litigants argued that political parties are substantially financed by the government of the day in multiple ways including land given at concessional rates, exemption from income tax and free air time on All India Radio and Doordarshan. The salient points made by litigants are: (i) The political parties hold constitutional status and wield constitutional powers under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution in as much as they have the power to - a) disqualify legislators from Parliament and state assemblies; b) bind legislators in their speeches and voting inside the house; c) decide what laws are made; d) decide whether government remains in power or which government should come to power; e) decide public policies that affect lives of millions of people." Further, the arguments include that the government has been indirectly financing various political parties by way of free air time on All India Radio and Doordarshan. These points were presented to the Commission to make a strong case to bring parties under the ambit of RTI Act. AND OUT CAME THE CAT! Analysis of the replies received from political parties showed that the top five political parties with the highest total income between 2004-05 and 2010-11 (last seven years) are: Congress with Rs 2,008 crore followed by BJP: Rs 994 crore, BSP: Rs 484 crore, CPM: Rs 417 crore and SP: Rs 279 crore. Going only by disclosed information, these 5 POLITICAL PARTIES IN TOTAL RECEIVED Rs 3,974 crores!!!!!!! Above quoted figures are just a tip of party's own Iceberg which is showing only 10 % of its actual above the surface of water!!! The information also revealed that MAJORITY OF THE MONEY COMES FROM DONATIONS, however; the NAMES OF DONORS FORMED A SMALL PERCENTAGE ON THE OFFICIAL RECORD. BEFORE TO THIS JUDGMENT: In 2008 CIC had also passed the judgment making I-T returns and contribution reports of political parties available in the public domain. Even at that time all political parties had opposed to part with this information. CIC had, however, directed the Income Tax authorities to make this information public as there was huge public interest in the information. NAME GIVING Yes, party politics is a game of BIG MONEY! Anyway, what shall we call this game - A Secular Game or A Communal Game OR Teri bhi Chup, Meri bhi Chup Game?
