Sonia Gandhi seeks 4 weeks to reply to CIC notice

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has sought four weeks to respond to a notice of the Central Information Commission (CIC) in which it has asked reasons for not complying with its verdict of bringing political parties under the RTI Act.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has sought four weeks to respond to a notice of the Central Information Commission (CIC) in which it has asked reasons for not complying with its verdict of bringing political parties under the RTI Act.

In the submission filed through her lawyer, Gandhi said she was in the process of seeking legal advice and preparing appropriate response to the panel’s notice.

Gandhi cited Delhi elections as the main cause of the delay.

The CIC had issued notices to Gandhi on a complaint filed by activist RK Jain, asking her to explain why her party had not complied with the directives of a panel about responding to RTI queries and not replied to an RTI plea filed last year.

Similar notices were issued to the BJP as well.

The CIC had declared that the Congress, BJP, CPI, CPM, NCP and BSP were public authorities and answerable under the RTI Act but none of the parties had set up any mechanism to respond to such queries.