New Delhi:
Empty chairs marked an open forum in Delhi where the national political parties were invited to explain their controversial decision of not including themselves within the purview of the Right to Information Act.
The only national party that showed up was the Communist Party of India whose D Raja said, "We don't think our internal decisions can come under the ambit of the RTI. As far as financial matters are concerned, our accounts are transparent."
Last week, the Cabinet cleared crucial changes to the Right to Information Act, passed in 2005, to block political parties from being covered under it.
The move came in response to the Central Information Commission or CIC's order passed in June, asking the six major national parties including the Congress and the BJP to respond to RTI applications.
RTI activists say the parties, when unable to change the implementation of a law, often resort to changing the law itself. Long-time RTI campaigner and former member of the National Advisory Council Aruna Roy asks, "If political parties were opposed to the CIC order, why not go to court?"
Nikhil Dey of the National Commission for People's Right to Information slammed the parties' reluctance to engage in a public debate. "This is an issue of ethics. That they are going to form a quorum of themselves where no one else can come in is neither desirable nor healthy," he said.
Political parties argue that they are monitored by and accountable to the Election Commission. However, as demands for more transparency in public life become stronger, they run the risk of not practicing what they claim to preach.
The only national party that showed up was the Communist Party of India whose D Raja said, "We don't think our internal decisions can come under the ambit of the RTI. As far as financial matters are concerned, our accounts are transparent."
Last week, the Cabinet cleared crucial changes to the Right to Information Act, passed in 2005, to block political parties from being covered under it.
The move came in response to the Central Information Commission or CIC's order passed in June, asking the six major national parties including the Congress and the BJP to respond to RTI applications.
RTI activists say the parties, when unable to change the implementation of a law, often resort to changing the law itself. Long-time RTI campaigner and former member of the National Advisory Council Aruna Roy asks, "If political parties were opposed to the CIC order, why not go to court?"
Nikhil Dey of the National Commission for People's Right to Information slammed the parties' reluctance to engage in a public debate. "This is an issue of ethics. That they are going to form a quorum of themselves where no one else can come in is neither desirable nor healthy," he said.
Political parties argue that they are monitored by and accountable to the Election Commission. However, as demands for more transparency in public life become stronger, they run the risk of not practicing what they claim to preach.
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