New Delhi:
The UPA government has decided against moving an ordinance to amend the Right to Information or RTI Act. It will now bring an amendment to the RTI Act in the form of a bill during the monsoon session of Parliament. The decision was taken after consultation with political parties.
The government had moved a cabinet note to amend the RTI Act and exempt political parties from the definition of public authority from the date of the ruling of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).
The CIC had ruled in June that political parties come under the ambit of the RTI act and had directed the president and general secretaries of the parties to comply within six weeks of the order. It had held that political parties are "public authorities", and as such would now have to share, if sought, details like who funds them, how they spend that money and even how they select candidates for elections.
The political parties had argued that they are not government funded and are not public authorities and so should not be brought under the RTI Act, which seeks to make transparent all expenditure of public money and other details about public authorities that impact citizens. On record though, the parties said they are open to such scrutiny.
The government had said that the move could hamper the smooth internal functioning and will be used by political rivals maliciously to disturb their functioning.
The government hoped to negate the CIC orders and most political parties have given their support to amend the RTI Act