{"id":52854,"date":"2019-10-05T19:00:47","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T13:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=52854"},"modified":"2019-10-05T18:32:55","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T13:02:55","slug":"7-pm-making-political-parties-accountable-5th-october-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-making-political-parties-accountable-5th-october-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM | Making political parties accountable | 5th October, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Context:\n<\/strong>The\nrecent judgment in D.A.V. College Trust and Management Society Vs. Director of\nPublic Instructions and how an analogy can be drawn in favor of declaring\npolitical parties as \u2018public authority\u2019 under the RTI Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>More\nin news: <\/strong>Recently,\nthe Supreme Court in&nbsp;D.A.V. College Trust and Management Society Vs.\nDirector of Public Instructions&nbsp;held that non-governmental organizations\nwhich were substantially financed by the appropriate government fall within the\nambit of \u2018public authority\u2019 under Section 2(h) of the Right to Information Act,\n2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Right\nto Information Act, 2005:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Under the\u00a0RTI\u00a0Act, 2005, Public Authorities are required to make disclosures on various aspects of their structure and functioning.\u00a0 <\/li><li>The functions are: <ul><li>disclosure on their organization, functions, and structure<\/li><li>powers and duties of its officers and employees<\/li><li>Financial information.\u00a0 <\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>The intent of such suo moto disclosures is that the public should need minimum recourse through the Act to obtain such information.\u00a0 <\/li><li>If such information is not made available, citizens have the right to request for it from the Authorities.\u00a0 <\/li><li>This may include information in the form of documents, files, or electronic records under the control of the Public Authority.\u00a0 <\/li><li>The intent behind the enactment of the Act is to promote transparency and accountability in the working of Public Authorities. \u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Who\nis included in the ambit of \u2018Public Authorities\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u2018Public Authorities\u2019 include bodies of\nself-government established under the Constitution, or under any law or\ngovernment notification. &nbsp;For instance, these include Ministries, public\nsector undertakings, and regulators.&nbsp; <\/li><li>It also includes any entities owned,\ncontrolled or substantially financed and non-government organizations\nsubstantially financed directly or indirectly by funds provided by the\ngovernment.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>D.A.V.\nCollege Trust and Management Society Vs. Director of Public Instructions:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>The case:<\/strong> The bench was dealing with an issue on whether NGOs substantially financed by the government fall within the ambit of \u2018public authority\u2019 under provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005.<\/li><li><strong>Substantial financing<\/strong>: The term &#8216;Substantially financed&#8217; is not defined in the RTI Act. When a term is not defined in an Act, the normal rule is to find the definition of the term in a relatable statute or legislation and apply the same. The definition is given in Section 14(1) of CAG Act-1971 for the term substantially financed.<ul><li>Dealing with the \u201csubstantial financing\u201d aspect, the bench said it does not necessarily have to mean a major portion or more than 50% and no hard and fast rule can be laid down in this regard.<\/li><li>Substantial financing can be either direct or indirect. To give an example, if a land in a city is given free of cost or on heavy discount to hospitals, educational institutions or such other body, this in itself could also be substantial financing. The very establishment of such an institution, if it is dependent on the largesse of the State in getting the land at a cheap price, would mean that it is substantially financed.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>The court resorted to \u2018purposive\u2019 interpretation of the provisions by underscoring the need to focus on the larger objective of percolation of benefits of the statute to the masses.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<table class=\"wp-block-table\"><tbody><tr><td> <strong>Purposive approach: <\/strong>The purposive approach sometimes referred to as purposive construction, purposive interpretation, or the &#8220;modern principle in construction&#8221; is an approach to statutory and constitutional interpretation under which common law courts interpret an enactment (that is, a statute, a part of a statute, or a clause of a constitution) in light of the purpose for which it was enacted. \u00a0<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Political\nParties in India:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Political parties\nare voluntary associations or organized groups of individuals who share the\nsame political views and who try to gain political power through constitutional\nmeans and who desire to work for promoting the national interest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are four\ntypes of political parties in the modern democratic states:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>reactionary parties which cling to the old\nsocio-economic and political institutions<\/li><li>conservative parties which believe in the\nstatus-quo<\/li><li>liberal parties which aim at reforming the\nexisting institutions<\/li><li>radical parties which aim at establishing\na new order by overthrowing the existing institutions.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A public interest litigation (PIL) filed\nrecently in 2019 seeks political parties to be declared as \u2018public authority\u2019\nunder the Right to Information Act, 2005, (RTI).<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Should\npolitical parties be brought under RTI?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yes:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>All the&nbsp;matters relating to finance\nand administration except for the political strategy needs to be made available\nto public&nbsp;because political parties are public institutions, receiving\nmoney from public. <\/li><li>In India, it is widely accepted notion\nthat fountain head of the corruption is political funding. Almost all political\nparties have got very valuable plots allotted by the Government at prime places\nin New Delhi and in their respective capital cities. It is therefore, necessary\nto introduce internal democracy, financial transparency and accountability in\nthe working of the political parties.<\/li><li>Electoral Bonds are not promoting\ntransparency in political funding&nbsp;as donors remain anonymous to public.\nInfact, not only funding but&nbsp;expenditure made by political\nparties,&nbsp;especially during the time of elections&nbsp;should be made\npublic.<\/li><li>Under Section 29A of the Representation of\nthe People Act, 1951 all political parties must affirm their allegiance to the\nConstitution of India and such allegiance is made compulsory for the purpose of\nregistration under sub-section (7) of Section 29A. Therefore, political parties\nso registered must furnish information to the public under the right of\ninformation under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India, since right\nof information has been held to be a part of freedom of speech and expression\nunder Article 19(1)(a).<\/li><li>Political Parties are already under the\nRTI Act as they have not challenged the Central Information Commission\u2019s\nverdict of 3rd&nbsp;June 2013&nbsp;(Political Parties are public authorities\nunder Section 2(h) of the RTI Act); though they have also not complied with the\norder yet.<\/li><li>The Law Commission of India in its 170th\nReport on \u2018Reform of the Electoral Laws\u2019 in May 1999 had recommended\ntransparency in the functioning of political parties.<\/li><li>RTI act is a very balanced act.&nbsp;There\nis a&nbsp;section 8(1)&nbsp;in the act that has ten exemptions within it. If a\npolitical party comes under the ambit of RTI act, then this section\nwill&nbsp;safeguard them from disclosing all types of information.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>No:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Political parties were not established by\nthe constitution or an act of parliament and therefore should not be under the\nRTI. They are formed under Representation of People Act, which is not the same\nas being created by the parliament.<\/li><li>Political Parties\nhave&nbsp;apprehension&nbsp;that disclosure of information under RTI act may\ngive&nbsp;advantage to their competitors.<\/li><li>Political parties do not want to disclose\ntheir internal working as well as their decision making system.<\/li><li>There are already provisions in the Income\nTax Act, 1961, and Representation of the People Act, 1951, which demand\nnecessary transparency regarding financial aspects of political parties. These\nmechanisms ensure transparency in financial dealings of parties.<\/li><li>Information about a political body is\nalready in the public domain on the website of the Election Commission.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion:\n<\/strong>Political\nparties are indispensable for the working of modern democratic governments. The\nimportance of Political parties lies in the fact that democracies cannot\nfunction without the existence of political parties. It makes the working of\nparliamentary government possible. A parliament consists of the representatives\nof the people. The Law Commission opines that political parties are the\nlifeblood of our entire constitutional system. Political parties act as a\nconduit through which interests and issues of the people get represented in\nParliament. Bringing the political parties under RTI will ensure transparency\nand thereby imbibing accountability in the political structure of Indian\ndemocracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source:\n<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/making-political-parties-accountable\/article29587748.ece\">https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/making-political-parties-accountable\/article29587748.ece<\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: The recent judgment in D.A.V. College Trust and Management Society Vs. Director of Public Instructions and how an analogy can be drawn in favor of declaring political parties as \u2018public authority\u2019 under the RTI Act. More in news: Recently, the Supreme Court in&nbsp;D.A.V. College Trust and Management Society Vs. Director of Public Instructions&nbsp;held that&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-making-political-parties-accountable-5th-october-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM | Making political parties accountable | 5th October, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-pm","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/7-PM.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":133,"cached_at":1612335448},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}