The Central Information Commission has directed the Centre to upload records of land/bungalow allotment to all political parties in the country. The order comes after the Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal government in Bihar rejected an RTI query on its headquarters in New Delhi.
Disposing of the RTI query filed by activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, Information Commissioner Yashovardhan Azad wrote to the Ministry of Urban Development: “The Commission directs the CPIO [of the ministry] to publish all documents/correspondence/guidelines/circulars relating to allotment of land and government bungalows, etc., to all registered political parties, on the [ministry’s] official website, within four weeks of receipt of this order.”
Mr. Agrawal had asked the RJD about its headquarters on Rouse Avenue, New Delhi and whether party leader Naval Kishore Rai had objected to naming it after the RJD chief’s wife and former Bihar CM Rabri Devi.
The CIC, in its order dated June 3, 2013, had declared political parties to be under the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
However, when the party did not provide him the information, he approached the Urban Development Ministry since it was “also the custodian of this information.”
When he did not get the information from the Ministry, he appealed to the CIC, which directed the Ministry to transfer queries pertaining to allotment of land to the party in Delhi, Bihar or Jharkhand to the State governments concerned and those about the renaming of the party headquarters to the RJD.
