Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
More than three years back J&K State Information Commission (SIC) headed by the then Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Mr G R Sufi issued notices to several political parties of J&K that included Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference asking them to clear their stand as to why they shouldn’t be brought under the ambit of J&K RTI Act 2009 ? These notices were issued after some RTI activists from Jammu had filed a complaint before the State Information Commission for not being provided information under RTI by some renowned political parties of the state.
The RTI activists had asked details about the donations received by Congress , BJP , National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) & Panthers Party Out of these political parties, PDP was the only political party which had responded to the RTI query and others remained tight lipped over the issue. After getting no response from most of the political parties, the aggrieved activists sought intervention of State Information Commission (SIC) . The Commission sought the counter reply from NC, Congress, Panthers Party and BJP in 2014 , but until previous State Information Commission completed its term the matter was not decided at all.
Case background :
The Central Information Commission (CIC) on June 3rd 2013 had declared many national political parties as “Public Authorities”which brings such organisations under the purview of Right to Information law . A Full Bench of the Central Information Commission headed by the then Chief Information Commissioner MrSatyananda Mishra held six parties — BJP, Congress , CPI(M), CPI, NCP and BSP – against whom RTI queries were directed, fulfill the criteria of being public authorities under the Central Right to Information Act of 2005. Considered to be one the landmark judgments, the Central Information Commission (CIC) had ruled that political parties come within the ambit of the Right to Information Act. As the CIC’s order had sent shock waves within various political parties including Congress and BJP, on 12th August 2013 the Congress Party tabled RTI Amendment Bill 2013 in LokSabha to keep political parties out of RTI ambit. On September 3rd 2013 bill was deferred to the Winter session of Parliament. On December 17, 2013 the Rajya Sabha Standing Committee on Law and Personnel tabled its report in the Parliament which says:
“The committee considers the proposed amendment is a right step to address the issue once and for all. The committee, therefore, recommends for passing of the Bill”. With this observation the CIC’s order got scuttled as the amendment would apply retrospectively i.e., from June 3rd 2013 , the date on which the CIC had issued the judgment declaring political parties as Public Authorities and bringing them under the provisions of the RTI law.
In April 2017 this year matter again came up for hearing at Central Information Commission New Delhi . Chief information Commissioner Mr R.K. Mathur directed to keep “in abeyance” the matter pertaining to political parties not adhering to the Right to Information Act, thus putting the controversial issue in cold storage. MrMathur’s direction to keep the hearing in abeyance comes inspite of a 2014 order of the Delhi high court to the commission to decide within six months the complaint filed by RTI Activist Mr R K Jain. The activist alleged that the parties were not replying to RTI applications and have not put in place any infrastructure mandated under the RTI Act.
Omar Abdullah’s 2013 statement :
As Central RTI Act 2005 is not applicable to J&K, CIC Mr R K Mathur’s judgment becomes null and void when it comes to its implementation in Jammu & Kashmir. Our state comes under the ambit of Jammu &Kashmir RTI Act 2009 and State Information Commission (SIC) is bound to decide the case on merits. In his valedictory speech at the 8th convention of the Central Information Commission on 3rd September 2013 ,National Conference leader and the then Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Omar Abdullah said he was not sure whether his party would agree with his views but if political parties are availing Income Tax exemption, they should be accountable to the people under RTI Act.
“As of now, my party is not on that list of parties that have to be part of the Right to Information and I don’t know whether my party will agree with what I have to say. But if they did ask me what I thought, I would believe it is justifiable for my party to come under the purview of the Right to Information,” said Omar Abdullah during his address at CICs 2013 convention
Daily Excelsior and all national and local dailies had given a wide coverage to this statement. During his speech Omar Abdullah stressed that he did not wish to pick a fight with other political parties, Omar said he does not see any problem in sharing records of day-to-day functioning of political parties with people. Former Chief Minister knew his party would not agree with him on bringing NC under the ambit of RTI Act. After a year or so when an RTI application was filed by some Jammu based activists in National Conference office , the party denied to share information under RTI Act. Some other parties like Congress , BJP and Panthers Party also denied the information under RTI. When the case landed in State Information Commission (SIC) , National Conference hired some legal experts to defend their case for not declaring them as Public Authority. The matter is still pending for disposal before the J&K State Information Commission (SIC).
Conclusion :
It is a debatable issue whether political parties come under the ambit of RTI Act or not . We are hopeful that State Information Commission (SIC) will give its verdict on merits by reopening the this case. The matter right now is in a state of suspended animation at SIC. The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2013 had not shown any reluctance while giving reply to an RTI applicant. What is their stand as of now vis a vis this issue is a matter of great importance as the party is in power right now ?Will PDP leaders allow themselves to be held accountable under J&K RTI Act 2009 ?I would suggest that political parties in J&K must proactively keep the details about their funding, donations etc. available on their official websites. I remember during the CIC’s September 2013 annual convention Omar Abdullah had said he was far more casual about the use of state aircraft or helicopter till RTI application regarding the number of trips started coming to his office. Pertinent to mention that a semi literate villager namely Bashir Ahmad Malik a resident of Drang Khag in District Budgam had sought details of CM’s chopper sorties during 2011-2012. The information was not provided by the J&K Civil Aviation Department, it was only after an appeal was filed before the State Information Commission (SIC) , the information was disclosed.
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