Are the political parties facing a flurry of RTI applications?
2 Jul, 2013Following the CIC order declaring the political parties as ‘public authorities’, the Communist Party of India (CPI) has become the first political organisation to respond to an application filed under the RTI Act. The reply, however, specifically mentions that the party does not come under the RTI Act, 2005.
In response to an application filed under the RTI Act, the party General Secretary Sudhakar Reddy mentioned that "According to our understanding, we are not yet part of Information Act. However, we reply to your queries." The party has said that information is supplied to I-T authorities and the Election Commission on regular basis and it stands for transparency of income and sources of income. The reply points that it has not appointed any Public Information Officer (PIO).
The query pertained to the action taken by the party on a write up. The reply says, "We have received your letter 'Baseless apprehension of Political parties on CIC verdict'. Did not we correspond with anybody on these letters. There is no necessity. We did not react to it as the very heading 'Baseless' is provocating and insulting, even without knowing what are our apprehensions, doubts, and objections…….. As for internal decisions, we are not prepared to share with outsiders. We feel it is degrading for political parties to declare that they function with financial help from government. It is an insult to parties and democracy. This is not a baseless apprehension. You have your opinion. We have our opinion. Let us agree to disagree."