Odisha Man Barred From Filing RTI Application For One Year; Know Why

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha State Information Commission on Saturday imposed a one-year ban on a man from Puri district from filing new applications under the RTI Act, citing “abuse of the process”.

According to reports, Chittaranjan Sethy of Satapuri village had filed 61 applications, seeking detailed income, expenditure, and development work information from Meteipur gram panchayat and Nimapara Block office.

State Information Commissioner Susanta Kumar Mohanty noted in his order that Sethy continued filing redundant queries despite receiving responses and opportunities to inspect documents. “Given the above facts, the commission concludes that the applicant’s conduct is an abuse of RTI process. His act is a clear indication of misuse. No doubt the applicant, being a citizen of India, has the right to get the information under the RTI Act, 2005, but he /she is also duty-bound to obey the law of the land and procedure,”the PTI reported, quoting the order, which also dismissed all 61 cases filed by him.

While barring him from filing new RTI applications for a year, the commission put a cap of 12 RTI applications per year across all public authorities. It also ordered mandatory affidavits disclosing the number of applications filed annually. The commission also flagged Sethy’s indiscriminate use of a BPL card for filing the applications and directed the Puri Collector to verify its authenticity and take action.

A state-wide advisory was issued to reject repetitive or burdensome queries from Sethy under Section 7(9) of the RTI Act, stressing that democratic institutions cannot permit uncontrolled misuse of the Act.