CIC notice to Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati, Rajnath Singh over RTI cases

Top leaders of six national parties — Rajnath Singh, Mayawati, Sonia Gandhi, Prakash Karat, Sharad Pawar and Sudhakar Reddy — have been asked to appear before the Central Information Commission (CIC) in cases filed by activists for not responding to RTI queries.

The notices were issued after one of the complainants, R.K. Jain, alleged that the registrar of CIC had adopted double standards in handling his complaints against the six national political parties — BJP, Congress, BSP, NCP, CPI(M) and CPI — by only naming Ms Gandhi while the notices to others were sent to the party chiefs.

Mr Jain had filed RTI applications with political parties seeking details of donations, funding, internal elections of the parties, in February 2014 after the CIC declared that these parties were answerable under the RTI Act. On getting no response from them, Mr Jain had moved the CIC.

The leaders have been asked to present their case before a full bench of the commission comprising Information Commissi-oners Bimal Julka, Sridhar Acharyulu and Sudhir Bhargava.

“Take notice that if you fail to furnish your comments/reply by July 20, 2016 and fail to appear on the aforesaid date and time, it will be presumed that you have nothing to say in your defence and the matter will be processed further as per law,” the notice said.

Earlier, a notice was issued to Ms Gandhi by name while notices to rest of the parties were issued in the name of their presidents/general secretaries to which Mr Jain had objected and complained to the Chief Information Commissioner.

In his complaint to Chief Information Commissioner R.K. Mathur against CIC registrar M.K. Sharma, Mr Jain alleged he had adopted double standards in issuing notice to Mrs Gandhi “by name” as Congress president, while the names of Rajnath Singh, Prakash Karat, Sharad Pawar, Mayawati and S. Sudhakar Reddy, were omitted though the complaints named them specifically.

Giving an example, Mr Jain had alleged that the then BJP president Rajnath Singh had specifically been named in his complaint, while the present notice issued by the registrar is to the president, BJP.