Information panel prohibits 4 from submitting pleas below RTI Act

In two separate orders, the Gujarat State Information Commission (GSIC) has prohibited 4 individuals from submitting purposes below the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act earlier than the state authorities, stating that the RTI Act “cannot be used as a tool for taking revenge”.
Taking objection to the 2 orders of the GSIC, former chief minister Suresh Mehta and eight different residents have submitted a memorandum to the Commission requesting it to ‘re-think’ the orders or to represent a full-bench to evaluation the identical. In the primary occasion, Manojkumar Sarpadadiya, a conductor with Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) and native of Amreli district, has been blacklisted by the GSIC from in search of data below the Act from any authorities within the state.
Gujarat State Information Commissioner Ramesh Karia handed the order on December 11, 2020, whereas adjudicating an enchantment of Sarpadadiya in search of sure data associated to his complaints lodged earlier than the Gujarat Vigilance Commission.
During the listening to of the enchantment, the order information that varied Information Officers have knowledgeable the Commission that Sarpadadiya was suspended twice in circumstances of ticket theft with initiation of departmental inquiries. Therefore, the Commission was instructed, he had develop into ‘habituated’ in in search of varied data below RTI. The Information Officers additionally knowledgeable the Commission that from 2017 until date Sarpadadiya had filed greater than 170 RTI purposes and greater than 140 appeals.
“The Commission thinks that the plaintiff holds cantankerous mentality and is a person who keeps on creating nuisance before public authorities and the Commission,” the order, a replica of which is with this paper, reads.
It appears, the order states, by in search of meaningless data, the plaintiff is mocking the provisions of the RTI Act.
The order additionally states that it appears that evidently the plaintiff has filed the RTI purposes in search of meaningless and inconsistent data to take revenge as a result of he has grievance along with his employer organisation.
The second order of the GSIC, dated January 5 and handed by Chief Information Commissioner DP Thaker, directs public data officers of three authorities of the well being division in Bhavnagar district to not settle for any RTI software or enchantment and never to reply to the identical, from three individuals of the identical household, for 5 years. They have been recognized as Chintan Makwana, his spouse Dilahariben and his mom Bharatiben.
The matter pertains to vacating a residential quarter entitled to a Class II rank official within the district. Dilahariben is a category III worker in a Community Health Centre (CHC) within the district. She was reportedly residing in a residential quarter, which is in any other case entitled to a category II official, alongside along with her husband and mother-in-law.
The order information a dispute associated to vacating the quarter after a medical officer of Class II was posted on the place, leading to a police criticism and counter criticism.
It was acknowledged that the three have been in search of an identical data via completely different RTI purposes and that they’ve been sending emails to numerous authorities, together with the Prime Minister’s Office, repeatedly. The Commission was knowledgeable by the defendants, the well being division authorities of Bhavnagar district, that the three have filed greater than 21 RTI purposes and despatched greater than 1,000 emails and the quarter is but to be vacated.
In its order imposing prohibitions on the Makwanas, the Commission states, “The Commission thinks that the complainants are having mentality of taking revenge and create nuisance for public authorities… The complainant has a right to seek information under the RTI Act, but (he) does not get the right to seek information on the same point repeatedly. Citizen has no right to repeat. Repeated applications affect functioning of public authorities also.”

Taking robust objection to the 2 orders of the GSIC, Suresh Mehta and eight others — journalist and historian Hari Desai, atmosphere activist Mahesh Pandya and RTI activists Pankaj Bhatt, Alpesh Bhavsar, Kantilal Parmar, Kirit Rathod, Harinesh Pandya and Pankti Jog — submitted a memorandum to Chief Information Commissioner Dilip Thaker and 5 different Information Commissioners.

Their memorandum stated, “RTI Act does not have provision to punish citizen, to blacklist or to prevent, withdraw her/his power to use RTI in any further circumstance for life time or for certain period.” It added,“The allegations mentioned about the applicants are to be dealt by state under various other laws and the state government is fully empowered to do so.” Officials of the GSIC weren’t obtainable for remark.