Reveal Names Of Electoral Bond Donors Who Wish To Stay Anonymous: CIC To Centre

Central Information Commission (CIC), the apex body responsible for the implementation of the Right to Information Act, has instructed the government to reveal the names of electoral bond scheme donors.

The CIC came down heavily on the handling of Right to Information application and issued a show-cause notice to the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) Department of Revenue under the Finance Ministry, the Department of Financial Services, and the Election Commission as to why a penalty will not be imposed for providing vague and incomplete answers.

Information Commissioner, Suresh Chandra gave the decision in a 2017 RTI application by Venkatesh Nayak who had sought information about a total number of representations or pleas from donors requesting anonymity, copies of pleas, and the draft electoral bond scheme from the Department of Economic Affairs, The Economic Times reported.

After receiving no reply, Nayak filed the first appeal in August 2017, and the first appellate authority ordered the transfer of the application to RBI, the government’s Department of Financial Services, the Election Commission and the coordination section of the Department of Economic Affairs.

However, Nayak did not receive any satisfactory details about the donors. In 2018, he filed a complaint with CIC.

The CIC took a serious note as to why no government department has responded to Nayak’s application properly. Chandra also said that the reply provided by RBI is incomplete and also asked the public officer of RBI to be more cautious while giving information to RTIs. The CIC ordered that all written explanations must reach the commission within three weeks.

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