Table of Contents
Political Parties as 'Public Authorities' — CIC Full Bench 2013
Central Information Commission (Full Bench) · 2013-06-03 · Citation awaited · ★ Landmark
Six national political parties ruled public authorities under §2(h); compliance remains unresolved.
Case details
| Court | Central Information Commission (Full Bench) |
|---|---|
| Decided | 2013-06-03 |
| Citation | Citation awaited |
| Petitioner | Subhash Chandra Agarwal et al. |
| Respondent | 6 National Political Parties |
| RTI Act sections | §2(h) |
| Outcome | Applicant allowed |
Outcome
CIC held six national political parties to be 'public authorities' under §2(h). Parties have not complied.
Ratio decidendi
Political parties receive substantial indirect financing (tax exemptions, concessional land, free air-time). They are public authorities under §2(h) and answerable under RTI.
Keywords
political parties, public authority, §2(h), CIC Full Bench
This case cites
Later rulings that cite this case
- Political party accounts — Kerala HC 2015 (HC-KER 2015)
Similar cases in the corpus
These rulings have the closest editorial ratio to this case — computed by tf-idf cosine similarity over ratio, keywords and Act sections. Useful starting points if you are researching the same point of law.
- Political party accounts — Kerala HC 2015 (HC-KER 2015)
- National sports federations — Delhi HC (HC-DEL 2018)
- ADR v. Union of India (Electoral Bonds) (SC 2024)
Related
Editorial summary, not a certified report. The ratio here is an editorial compression. Before citing this ruling in a PIO order, FAA speaking order, or any appellate filing, verify against the full reported decision. RTI Wiki is not a legal service.
Editorial summary · last reviewed 21 April 2026.
Discussion