In Subhash Chandra Aggarwal & Anr v Indian National Congress & Ors, a full bench of the Central Information Commission (CIC) held that six national political parties – Indian National Congress/All India Congress Committee, Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, National Congress Party, and Bahujan Samaj Party – were public authorities under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
The CIC was ruling on complaints from individuals who had sought to use the act to find out about the finances of the parties in question. The parties had refused to provide the information, arguing that they were not public authorities as defined under the Right to Information Act.
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The complainants argued that the political parties were public authorities under the act as they received substantial financing from the central government, performed a public duty, and have constitutional and legal rights and liabilities.
The CIC concluded that political parties were public authorities under section 2(h)(d)(i) of the Right to Information Act, as they receive substantial financing from the government. The financing includes land allotted to them in Delhi either free or at concessional rates by the Ministry of Urban Development, income tax exemptions received under section 13A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and free air time during elections on All India Radio and the state-run television channel, Doordarshan.
The political parties were also held to be public authorities under section 2(h) of the Right to Information Act in view of the nature of public functions they performed.
Directing the political parties to designate central public information officers within six weeks, the CIC ordered that the designated officers should respond to the right to information applications of the defendants within four weeks.
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The update of court judgments is compiled by Bhasin & Co, Advocates, a corporate law firm based in New Delhi. The authors can be contacted at lbhasin@bhasinco.in or lbhasin@gmail.com. Readers should not act on the basis of this information without seeking professional legal advice.
