Political parties can come under RTI ambit, attorney general says Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN | Oct 23, 2013, 01.20 AM IST THE TIMES OF INDIA NEW DELHI: Attorney general G E Vahanvation Tuesday opposed the bill pending in Parliament which seeks to keep political parties outside the scope of the Right to Information Act, raising the prospect that the anti-transparency move may not go through. Appearing before Parliaments standing committee on departments of personnel, public grievances, law and justice, the AG said political parties should accept the Central Information Commissions June 3 ruling bringing them within the purview of RTI Act, disregarding the argument that subjecting them to RTI would render political parties vulnerable to harassment or embarrassment. Vahanvatis caution follows growing misgivings among the political class about resistance to be exposed to the sunlight of transparency. BJP had opposed the bill which was brought to negate the CIC order, resulting in the matter being referred to the standing committee. There have also been indications that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi may oppose the move as a follow-up to his assault on the ordinance for convicted politicians. In fact, individual ministers likeShashi Tharoor, minister of state for human resource development, have already opposed the legislation in their personal capacity. Although Vahanvati said it was open to political parties to individually challenge the CIC order in higher courts, it will be interesting to see which one will stick out, considering the emergence of a new constituency which values transparency and accountability. Vahanvati refused to divulge what he said before the committee, but one of the attendees told TOI that the AG said existing framework provided adequate safeguards for political parties. He also said that it would not be advisable to amend the RTI Act to shield political parties from answering questions from the public about their functioning. The source said the Centres top law officer cited of Sections 2 (providing among others the definition of public authority) and 8 (exemption from disclosure of information) of the RTI Act to observe that these would cushion political parties against harassment. What had riled the political parties, with their opaque fundingpractices, was the CICs ruling that people of India must know the source of expenditure incurred by political parties and by the candidates in the process of election. On June 3, The CIC had ordered, We have no hesitation in concluding that INC/AICC, BJP, CPI(M), CPI, NCP and BSP have been substantially financed by the central government and, therefore, they are held to be public authorities under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. The standing committee headed by Shantaram Naik is examining the scope of the definition of ‘public authority as provided in Section 2(h) of the Act and whether the CIC had expanded the definition to bring in political parties, triggering the introduction of the RTI (Amendment) Bill, 2013. The parliamentary panel is holding interactions across the country on the proposed RTI (Amendment) Bill, 2013 to elicit views of the public as well as activists and intelligentsia on the CIC decision as well as the legislation it generated. The committee has already held meetings in Mumbai, Chennai, Jaipur and other cities and met government authorities, PSU representatives and persons representing a cross-section of vocation. Naik had earlier said the committee was examining whether proceedings of various confidential meetings of political parties held for shortlisting or finalizing candidates would be required to be disclosed if the CIC judgment was made final and the bill did not become a law. The full bench of the commission had unanimously held that it would be odd to argue that transparency is good for all state organs but not so good for political parties, which, in reality, control all the vital organs of the state. The criticality of the role being played by these political parties in our democratic set-up and the nature of duties performed by them also point towards their public character, bringing them in the ambit of Section 2(h). The constitutional and legal provisions discussed herein above also point towards their character as public authorities, the commission had said. The order came after activists Subhash Chandra Aggarwal and Anil Bairwal of the Association of Democratic Reforms approached the CIC, requesting that political parties be declared as public authorities. Times View The attorney general is right when he suggests that the government should not seek to overturn the Supreme Court order on RTI by bringing in a new law. In fact, even political parties should not seek to get the order reversed. Given the extremely low level of credibility that politicians as a class have in India, they must see this as an opportunity to redeem themselves in the eyes of the aam admi. If they willingly embrace transparency, it would help them bridge this credibility gap. If, on the other hand, they choose to fight it, they will only confirm the suspicion that they have much to hide. timesofindia.indiatimes/india/Political-parties-can-come-under-RTI-ambit-attorney-general-says/articleshow/24558306.cms Secret meeting on RTI in Mumbai irks activists Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times New Delhi, October 23, 2013 First Published: 13:53 IST(23/10/2013) | Last Updated: 14:33 IST(23/10/2013) HINDUSTAN TIMES A parliamentary standing committee holding consultation on amending the transparency law to keep political parties outside its ambit in a secret manner has irked RTI activists. The committee, to whom the RTI Amendment Bill was referred after lot of public heat, held consultations with political parties in a five-star hotel in Mumbai recently without any prior notice to people about the meeting. The committee had invited only two RTI activists and another two had reportedly gate crashed at the meeting. However, the standing committee asked the activists not to discuss the deliberations without anyone or they would be booked for breach of Parliamentary privilege. Former central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi in a letter to chairman of the committee Shantaram Naik said many RTI activists from Maharashtra had sent representations to the committee and requested an opportunity for a personal hearing. “It would be very unfortunate if such a closed door meeting with two invitees and their two friends is recorded as a public consultation,” he said, asking him to conduct a properly organised consultation to hear view of the citizens in this regard. The committee has received a large number of representations from citizens across India against the government’s move to amend the RTI Act to exempt political parties from its purview. A representation from Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative says that many nongovernment bodies have already been brought under the RTI Act for substantial funding from the government, the ground to including political parties under the transparency law. The committee is expected to submit its report to the government before the start of the winter session of Parliament in November-December this year. hindustantimes/india-news/secret-meeting-on-rti-in-mumbai-irks-activists/article1-1138899.aspx RTI activist had to pay with his life for unearthing racket TNN | Oct 23, 2013, 02.48 AM IST THE TIMES OF INDIA JAIPUR: Its a typical tale of the dishonest and criminal sarpanch murdering an honest, hardworking and poor villager for standing up against his corrupt ways. At least, that is what has been the findings of a team from the Suchna Ka Adhikar Manch that went to the Jaisla village in Phalodi to investigating the murder of RTI activists Sambhu Ram Bishnoi. Thirty two year old Sambhu Singh Bishnoi was murdered on October 7 by the sarpanch of Jaisla Soda Ram Bishnoi and his men. Sambhu Rams death is the first death of a RTI activists in the state. According to the report of the fact finding team, Sambhu Ram was from a BPL family and used to eek out a living by working in the fields during the rains and as a labourers at other times. He is survived by four minor children and a wife. His seven sisters and four brothers live in two other houses in the village. Over the past three years Sambhu Ram along with his friends Budharam, Parsaram and Punaram had exposed the corrupt practices of the sarpanch in the village with documents got under the RTI Act. These included work done in the village under MGNREGA and Swajal Dhara Yojna. He had dug out corruption worth lakhs and informed the anti-corruption bureau, cases for which are currently pending. Sambhu had also found out that Sodaram had filed a false affidavit during the sarpanch elections and the case is currently at the high court, the report says. Angered at this, Sodaram, who has 13 cases included those under Sections 302 and 307 of the IPC pending against him, used to threaten him on and off but in vain. On that fateful evening Sambhuram was on his way home after having got his Aadhar card made when he was kidnapped and taken to a deserted house about 200 yards from the panchayat bhavan. There he was beaten with sticks and rods till he was dead, the report adds. On hearing Sambhurams screams when Punaram and Jagdish rushed towards the house from the panchayat bhavan and witnessed Sodaram and his family members beating him and then fleeing. The Manch has demanded a compensation for Sambhurams family and free education for his children. They have also asked for a job for his widow and the immediate arrest of the culprits. Other demands include the arrest of the culprits of two other RTI activists Manglaram and Ghuraram who were too attacked, special protection for RTI activists and the disposal of cases filed in such attacks in three months time. timesofindia.indiatimes/city/jaipur/RTI-activist-had-to-pay-with-his-life-for-unearthing-racket/articleshow/24560103.cms RTI applicants must mention why they need info Prafulla Marpakwar, TNN Oct 22, 2013, 02.24AM IST THE TIMES OF INDIA Description: articles.timesofindia.indiatimes/images/pixel.gif MUMBAI: The state gazetted officers federation on Monday demanded the Right to Information (RTI) Act be immediately amended to halt its misuse.Description: articles.timesofindia.indiatimes/images/pixel.gif We feel that its high time to review the act, G D Kulthe, general secretary of the federation, told TOI. The law should be amended to ensure that its not misused. We demand that the applicant must submit the purpose for which the information is required and accordingly the act should be amended. Kulthe said when the state government enacted the legislation in 2002, following an agitation launched by anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, it was specifically mentioned that the applicant would have to state the purpose for which he was seeking information.Description: articles.timesofindia.indiatimes/images/pixel.gif When the Centre enacted the law in 2005, the purpose clause was dropped, he said. We are for restoring th clause. Kulthe said between 2002 and 2005 there were fewer applications and only those interested in seeking specific information submitted queries. If we include the purpose clause, then there will be restrictions on the number of applications, he said. He said that in a large number of cases, the Supreme Court as well as a somef information commissioners had made clear that only if the larger public interest was involved should information be provided. We found that quite a large number of applicants below the poverty line are misusing the law, he said. Under such circumstances, instead of providing free information, some minimum fees should be recovered from BPL applicants. He said there should be a cap on the number of applications a person may file. The veteran trade union leader said bureaucracys mindset had changed with the RTI Act, as information was now easily accessible. Endorsing Kulthes views, a former information commissioner said by and large the act was used by self-styled activists instead of the common man. The legislation was brought in for transparency, particularly for the common man, but it has become a tool for publicity, he said. We are in the dark as to how the information obtained under the RTI Act is utilized.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 12:46:35 +0000
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