Info-seekers blasted for RTI misuse
Himanshi Dhawan | TNN

New Delhi: Public authorities are usually at the receiving end of the
Central Information Commission. But the tables were turned recently, when in
two cases under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the CIC reprimanded
information-seekers for 'harassing' public authorities.

    In both cases, the information seekers or applicants were disgruntled
former employees. In the first case, Hyderabad's K Gopinath had applied to
the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), University Grants
Commission (UGC) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Technology University for diverse
information. When the case reached the CIC, the commission found that most
of the information has been given to the applicant. The CIC noted that in a
period of 3-4 months, Gopinath had put in as many as 67 applications to the
JNTU, where he had worked and from where he was subsequently dismissed.

    "In the present case, the applicant who had been dismissed by the
organisation on disciplinary grounds four months back, has since then
flooded different bodies with RTI applications asking for diverse pieces of
information,'' the CIC said.

    It also observed the three organisations had done their best to satisfy
Gopinath. In a similar case, a Rajasthan resident Faqir Chand had filed two
applications with the North Western Railway (NWR), Jaipur, and despite
receiving the information approached the CIC. On questioning, Chand admitted
that he had been "harassed'' by NWR while in service.

    Chand, who has since retired, decided to harass NWR by asking extensive
information under the RTI Act.

    The application was disposed of after the commission made it known that
the Act was not an instrument to "settle scores''.

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