Misuse of RTI places burden on financial and manpower resources of public authority
27 Mar, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) seeking information pertaining to the appointment and work description of three officials of the Department. He also wanted to know the date of abolition of the post of Deputy Chief Auditor. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided point wise information to the appellant and asked him to deposit the prescribed additional fee for obtaining the requested information against each of the points. The First Appellate Authority directed the PIO to arrange inspection of documents by the appellant after taking a list of such documents from the appellant.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the FAA submitted that the appellant has not deposited the fees for getting the information. The PIO stated that the appellant has filed 130 RTI applications consisting of 1025 questions and that he seems intent on placing unnecessary burden on the financial and manpower resources of the Department through misuse of the right given to him under the RTI Act. The PIO also stated that in most cases the appellant had not deposited the prescribed fee or had deposited only a very small portion thereby demonstrating his true intent in causing harassment to the public authority.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that the appellant has not been able to show any larger public interest in supporting his excessive use of the RTI Act nor has he given any credible explanation for not having deposited the prescribed fee for taking the copies of the documents. The Commission noted that the information sought by the appellant has already been provided to him. The CIC also warned the appellant to use the cherished rights given to him under the Transparency Act with great responsibility in future.
Comments
The rights granted under the RTI Act are for the benefit of the citizens and everyone should use these rights with a sense of responsibility.
Citation: Mr. Subhash Chander Gupta v. North South & East Delhi Municipal Corporation in Appeal: No. CIC/DS/A/2012/001691
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1154
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission