Bangalore: Former Karnataka Lokayukta and former Supreme Court judge Justice N Santosh Hegde  was  highly critical of the  Government for deciding to keep political parties out of the purview of the RTI.

Speaking to media men, Justice Hegde described political parties as public bodies which are answerable to the people and deal with public issues. He also stressed the need for transparency in the dealings of political parties.

Referring to the recent instance of the  suspension of an IAS officer in Uttar Pradesh, Justice  Hegde said this is one instance that reveals that political parties are powerful organizations which control administration in one way or the other.

He was also highly critical of some political parties which consider themselves “all-powerful” and fail to be answerable to people considering that the  rule of transparency is not applicable to them.

On the issue of political parties spending huge sums on elections, Justice Hegde said people would want to know from where the parties get the funds.

The proposed amendments to the RTI Act state that declaring political parties as public authorities under the RTI would “hamper their smooth internal functioning since it will encourage political rivals to file RTI applications with malicious intentions.”The cabinet decision comes two months after the  Central Information Commission’s order of bringing six national political parties–Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI-M, CPI and BSP–under the RTI Act.