The Odisha State Information Commission (SIC) has debarred an RTI applicant from filing new queries for one year, citing that the “applications filed by him in the past were repetitive in nature and burdensome, placing unnecessary stress on public resources.”
State Information Commissioner (SIC) Susanta Kumar Mohanty, in a ruling pronounced yesterday, stated that the conduct of applicant Chittaranjan Sethy constitutes an abuse of the RTI process and is a clear indication of misuse.
While acknowledging that the applicant, as an Indian citizen, has the right to access information under the RTI Act, 2005, the Commissioner emphasized that Sethy is bound to obey the law of land and procedure. “The applicant deserves to be dealt with in a strict manner,” SIC Mohanty stated, while imposing the one-year ban on filing fresh RTI queries.
The Commission also dismissed 61 RTI applications from Sethy, which sought detailed information on income, expenditure, and development work from the Meteipur Gram Panchayat and Nimapara Block office in Puri district.
The SIC has advised public authorities to ignore any further RTI applications from Sethy under Section 7(a) of the RTI Act, 2005, if they are found to be repetitive or burdensome. The order aims to protect public resources and prevent the abuse of the RTI process.