THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2013
A BILL to amend the Right to Information Act,
2005.
BE it enacted by Parliament in the
Sixty-fourth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—
1. (1) This Act may be called the
Right to Information (Amendment) Act, 2013.
(2) It shall be deemed to have come into force
on the 3rd day of June, 2013.
2. In section 2 of the Right to
Information Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), in clause
(h), the following Explanation shall be inserted, namely:––
‘Explanation.––The expression “authority or
body or institution of self government established or constituted” by any law
made by Parliament shall not include any association or body of individuals
registered or recognised as political party under the Representation of the
People Act, 1951.
3. After section 31 of the principal Act, the
following section shall be inserted, namely:—
“32. Notwithstanding anything contained in any
judgment, decree or order of any court or commission, the provisions of this
Act, as amended by the Right to Information (Amendment) Act, 2013, shall have
effect and shall be deemed always to have effect, in the case of any
association or body of individuals registered or recognised as political party
under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 or any other law for the time
being in force and the rules made or notifications issued thereunder.”.
STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS
The Right to Information Act, 2005 was enacted
by the Government for setting out a framework for effectuating the right to
information for citizens and to secure access to information under the control
of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in
the working of every public authority.
2. The Central Information Commission in one
of its decision dated 03.06.2013 has held that the political parties namely
AICC/INC, BJP, CPI (M), CPI, NCP and BSP are public authorities under section
2(h) of the said Act. The Government considers that the CIC has made a liberal
interpretation of section 2(h) of the said Act in its decision. The political
parties are neither established nor constituted by or under the Constitution or
by any other law made by Parliament. Rather, they are registered or recognised
under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the rules/orders made or
issued thereunder.
3. It has also been observed that there are
already provisions in the Representation of the People Act, 1951 as well as in
the Income-tax Act, 1961 which deals with the transparency in the financial
aspects of political parties and their candidates.
4. Declaring a political party as public
authority under the RTI Act would hamper its smooth internal working, which is
not the objective of the said Act and was not envisaged by Parliament under the
RTI Act. Further, the political rivals may misuse the provisions of RTI Act,
thereby adversely affecting the functioning of the political parties.
5. In
view of above, the Government has decided to amend the RTI Act to keep the
political parties out of the purview of the RTI Act, with a view to remove the
adverse effects of the said decision of the CIC. It is also necessary to give
retrospective effect to the proposed amendment with effect from the date of the
said decision of CIC, that is, 3rd day of June, 2013.
6. The Bill seeks to achieve the above
objects.
V. NARAYANASAMY NEW DELHI;
The 5th August, 2013.
ANNEXURE
EXTRACT FROM THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005
( 22 OF
2005)
* * * * *
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, — * * * * *
(h) “public authority” means any
authority or body or institution or self-government established or constituted—
(a) by or under the Constitution;
(b) by any other law made by
Parliament;
(c) by any other law made by State
Legislature;
(d) by notification issued or order made by
the appropriate Government, and includes any—
(i) body owned, controlled or
substantially financed;
(ii) non-Government organisation substantially
financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate
Government;
