This story is from September 12, 2018

How to curb RTI use, info commissioner asked

Claiming that certain Right To Information (RTI) applicants threaten and blackmail government officials, an executive engineer in the roads and buildings department under the Kheda district panchayat wrote to the Gujarat information commissioner, asking for directions on how to curb use of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
How to curb RTI use, info commissioner asked
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AHMEDABAD: Claiming that certain Right To Information (RTI) applicants threaten and blackmail government officials, an executive engineer in the roads and buildings department under the Kheda district panchayat wrote to the Gujarat information commissioner, asking for directions on how to curb use of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
The letter, dated August 31, which asks how to blacklist 10 persons was also sent to the Kheda district collector.
It states that these persons allegedly blackmail government officials and extort money from them in the name of RTI.
“These people frequently file RTI applications to make baseless allegations against government officials, to threaten and blackmail them and sometimes to get money by extorting the officials,” the letter reads.
“Such practices lead to a waste of time and money of government officials. So if any such information is sought by those persons, then that can be held as unreasonable and it will be closed as per the provisions of the Act,” the letter reads.
When contacted, the official justified his letter saying that the persons concerned seek information which is of no use to the public and thus misuse the law. He also said they have a staff shortage and waste precious hours collecting information, which could be invested in doing work that is in the public’s interest.
“These persons ask for a certain type of information to misuse the law. We have witnessed so many incidents when information was sought and when it was collected and given to the applicant, it was not accepted by the applicant,” said the executive engineer, H V Chauhan.

“We are already facing a staff crunch and giving out loads of information under RTI wastes our time and it adversely affects the work of the common people,” added Chauhan.
Pankti Jog, an RTI activist, said the move to seek guidance from the state information commissioner is illegal and unconstitutional. “The RTI Act was given to the people of this country by Parliament, so no department of the Gujarat government can deny information for such frivolous reasons,” said Jog.
The government offices should rather disclose information pro-actively rather than curbing the right to information, added Jog.
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