The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and RTI activist Subhash Agrawal have filed a complaint with the Central Information Commission (CIC) against six national political parties — the Indian National Congress, the BJP, the CPI, the CPI(M), the Nationalist Congress Party and Bahujan Samaj Party — for not responding to Right to Information queries.
The ADR has appealed to the CIC to take action against the six parties for not appointing Public Information Officers, as directed by the CIC.
The Commission in its full bench verdict had held that six national political parties were public authorities under the Right to Information Act, 2005. The Commission had further directed them to appoint Public Information Officers within six weeks of the order, to respond to existing RTI queries within the next four weeks.
‘Non-compliance for six months’“The six parties have not complied with the CIC even after more than six months. By doing this they are defying the decision of a statutory authority which is akin to contempt of court. Such nonconformity by these national parties can be precarious to our democracy and interest of the public at large,” the ADR said in a statement on Wednesday.
