The Supreme Court on Friday scheduled a hearing in April for petitions seeking to bring all recognized political parties within the scope of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. A bench led by Chief Justice of India and Justice Sanjay Kumar directed all parties involved to complete their pleadings and set the matter for hearing in the week starting April 21.
The case concerns multiple petitions requesting that national and regional political parties be declared “public authorities” under the RTI Act. Prominent political parties, including the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are named as respondents in the case.
One of the petitions, filed by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, refers to earlier rulings by the Central Information Commission (CIC) in 2013 and 2015. The CIC had ruled that political parties receiving government benefits, such as tax exemptions and land, should be brought under the RTI Act to promote transparency in the political system.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), while supporting financial transparency in political parties, opposed the idea of parties being compelled to disclose internal decisions, such as candidate selection processes. The CPI(M) stated that while it had no issue with RTI disclosures related to financial matters, it objected to requests under RTI that would require parties to reveal their internal decision-making.
The Central government argued that the CIC’s orders should not be used to seek a writ from the Supreme Court to force political parties into the RTI framework.
The petitions are seeking directions for the Supreme Court to declare all national and state-recognized political parties as “public authorities” under the RTI Act. Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, who also filed a petition, pointed out that under Section 29C of the Representation of People Act, political parties are required to report donations to the Election Commission of India, indicating their public nature. Upadhyay argued that the Court could declare political parties as “public authorities” under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act by considering relevant constitutional provisions and sections of the Representation of People Act.
The plea further contended that political parties’ receipt of tax exemptions also indicated their public nature, qualifying them for inclusion under the RTI Act. Additionally, Upadhyay’s petition asked the Court to direct that all registered and recognized political parties appoint Public Information Officers and Appellate Authorities and make necessary disclosures under the RTI Act within four weeks.
