NEW DELHI: Ignoring concerns raised by civil rights activists the Union Cabinet on Thursday gave its nod for amending the Right to Information (RTI) Act to exclude political parties from its purview. The bill will be placed before the monsoon session starting August 5.

The amendments have been necessitated by a Central Information Commission (CIC) order on June 3 that ruled that 6 national parties—Congress, BJP, BSP, CPI, CPM and NCP—were public authorities on the grounds that they were substantially funded by the government. The CIC also directed the parties to appoint public information officers by July 15, an order that was ignored by all 6.

The cabinet gave its nod to amend the RTI Act to keep political parties out of the ambit of transparency law.

The department of personnel and training (DoPT), which acts as nodal department for the implementation of the RTI Act, in consultation with law ministry moved the proposal to amend the RTI Act.

The government seeks to change the definition of public authorities mentioned under Section 2 of the RTI Act to keep all political parties out of the jurisdiction of RTI, the sources said.

Government sources said that there was unanimous support from all political parties on the issue.

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