CIC issues notices to political party bosses, by name

NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has issued notices naming top leaders of six national parties — Rajnath Singh, Mayawati, Sonia Gandhi, Prakash

NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has issued notices naming top leaders of six national parties — Rajnath Singh, Mayawati, Sonia Gandhi, Prakash Karat, Sharad Pawar and Sudhakar Reddy — on complaints from an RTI activist that their parties had not responded to right to information queries.

HT Image

They have been asked to present their case on July 22 before a full bench of the commission comprising information commissioners Bimal Julka, Sridhar Acharyulu and Sudhir Bhargava. This is the first time the commission has named leaders of the six parties.

Its earlier notices were to the parties, not individuals, except for Congress president Sonia Gandhi. This had prompted Jain to complain that the panel had adopted double standards.

Jain had filed applications after the CIC ruled in 2013 that political parties were public authority under the transparency law and had to respond to RTI applications. The commission had put the onus of appointing public information officers on party chiefs. This is, for instance, why home minister Rajnath Singh has been asked to explain BJP’s failure to respond to the application rather than party president Amit Shah.