Section 9
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Registration Rules, 2008 framed under Article 94 of the Representation of
the People Order, 1972
Right to Information Act, 2009
Section 9:
As per the provision of the Registration Rules of our country the
registered political parties are required to submit their audited
statements of accounts to the Election Commission every year for the
purpose of, amongst others, transparency and accountability to the people
and the electorate. According to the RPO, 1972 and the said Registration
Rules it is the statutory duty of the Election Commission to collect such
statements of accounts from those parties on an annual basis to regulate
their functioning and to ensure a free and fair electoral process. As such,
such statements should not be treated as ‘secret information’ under the
RTI Act. ...Badiul Alam Majumdar & ors Vs. Information Commission & anr,
(Civil), 8 SCOB [2016] HCD 110
....View Full Judgment
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Badiul Alam Majumdar & ors Vs. Information Commission & anr |
8 SCOB [2016] HCD 110 |
RTI Act-
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Ignoring the people’s right to know, keeping them in dark and playing
hide-and-seek with them in a democratic country like us where all powers
belong to the people and their mandate is necessary for ruling the country
no registered political party can be allowed to take the stand that the
audited statements submitted to the Election Commission were “secret
information”. ...Badiul Alam Majumdar & ors Vs. Information Commission &
anr, (Civil), 8 SCOB [2016] HCD 110
In the case in hand, though, admittedly, the political parties did not
consider their submitted audited statements of accounts as ‘secret
information’ or ‘confidential’, but the respondents without any
mandate of law erroneously served notices upon the respective political
parties concern seeking their opinion in respect of providing information
to the petitioners and most of the political parties, which operate in the
public sphere and have constitutional and statutory obligations for
accountability and transparency, provided a negative opinion in providing
such information violating the citizen’s right to information guaranteed
under the RTI Act, frustrating the purpose of the Registration Rules and
the RTI Act and also damaging the spirit of ensuring and guaranteeing their
transparency and accountability in all spheres including the people, which
is unfortunate and hence, is deprecated. ...Badiul Alam Majumdar & ors Vs.
Information Commission & anr, (Civil), 8 SCOB [2016] HCD 110
....View Full Judgment
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Badiul Alam Majumdar & ors Vs. Information Commission & anr |
8 SCOB [2016] HCD 110 |