No move to amend RTI Act for immunity to political parties: Govt

The Govt is not considering amending the RTI Act to give immunity to political parties from providing information after the recent CIC order.

New Delhi: The Government is not considering amending the RTI Act to give immunity to political parties from providing information after the recent CIC order brought them under the transparency law.

Officials in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which acts as nodal department for the implementation of RTI Act, said they have gone through the Central Information Commission`s order and there was nothing that warranted their intervention. "If a party is aggrieved by the CIC`s order, they can always take remedy measure and may appeal against it before designated courts," a senior DoPT official said. The official said the Ministry is willing to clarify in case of any ambiguity in the order. "If a political party writes to us, we will certainly provide clarification on matters related to the Act," the official said. In a landmark ruling, the CIC had on June 3 held that political parties are public authorities and answerable to citizens under RTI Act. The Commission had said six national parties-Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI-M, CPI and BSP-have been substantially funded indirectly by the central government and they have the character of public authority under the RTI Act as they perform public functions. The Centre`s flagship Right to Information Act empowers a citizen to seek time-bound information on all matters of governance by paying a fee of Rs 10. PTI