RTI bench dismisses 7,651 appeals, warns against misusing the law

The Information Commission dismissed 7,651 RTI appeals, deeming them a misuse of the law and a burden on government, hindering public service.

Intro: RTI Act should not be used as a tool of oppression or hold the government to ransom, says an order of the Information Commission

RTI bench dismisses 7,651 appeals, warns against misusing the law

MUMBAI: Calling them a burden on the government administration and a misuse of the law, the Sambhaji Nagar bench of the Information Commission has dismissed 7,651 appeals filed by 18 Right To Information (RTI) activists over the last 15 months.

In a recent order, the commission also called the appeals filed by one applicant in particular a misuse of the RTI Act. In doing so, the order stated, the applicant was holding government offices to ransom, potentially bringing work in these offices to a standstill.

In its order passed on July 14 and uploaded on the commission’s portal this week, Prakash Indalkar, state information commissioner of the Sambhaji Nagar bench of the commission, dismissed 81 appeals filed by RTI activist Janak Gaikwad. Of the bulk appeals dismissed since April 2024, filed by 18 applicants, 3,660 appeals filed by Keshavraje Nimbalkar were dismissed in June and December 2024; and 1,144 second appeals filed by activist Sharad Dabhade were dismissed in April and September 2024.

The July 14 order also cited a verdict delivered by then central information commissioner, Shailesh Gandhi, in 2012, where he had said that right to information is a fundamental right of citizens and it should not be used to fulfill the demands of one individual. Gandhi had also said that repeated applications and appeals was a waste of public resources.

Indalkar also said that bulk appeals do not serve any public interest but vested individual interests. “Because of the bulk applications by specific applicants, significant time of government officers and personnel is wasted. This has posed the danger of government staff spending most of their precious time collecting RTI information instead of serving the people,” the order stated.

An official from the Information Commission said that a large number of appeals were filed against officers and teachers in aided and government schools, and government departments such as the forest and rural development departments. “In some cases, the appeals were filed to blackmail government servants,” the official said.