Chandigarh: The State Information Commission, Punjab during the hearing of a case debarred the information seeker Jaspreet Singh resident fo Ropar from seeking information from the Public Authorities of Education Department, Punjab under RTI act.
Disclosing this here, an official Spokesperson of the State Information Commission, Punjab said that while listening to the cases filed by Jaspreet Singh, S.S. Channy, Chief Information Commissioner Punjab after hearing both the parties and from the perusal of the case files said that it transpires that Jaspreet Singh, Appellant, has worked as a Lecturer Punjabi(now retired) in Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Ropar, under Manjit Kaur, Principal.
He has some personal grouse against her. He knows well that Manjit Kaur, Principal is a cancer patient and with a sole purpose to harass her, he has adopted the channel of RTI and has submitted/is submitting umpteen RTI applications to the Principal herself or through the offices of the DPI(SE), CEO, DEO(SE) Ropar for seeking mostly vague and unspecific information relating to the Principal or her school like copies of Time Tables of the school, copies of time tables of teachers, copies of Attendance Registers of the students, copies of Attendance Registers of teachers, copies of letters issued by the Government, copies of results, amount of medical reimbursement claimed by him, copies of proformas filled in by him while applying for medical leave.
He Further Said that the Commission finds the appellant to be cantankerous and a continuous trouble maker for the Public Authority and the Commission.
The commission while pronouncing its decision cited the judgement of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in CBSE Vs. Aditya Bandopadhyay(2011)8 SCC 497 case and that of Delhi High Court in Shail Sahni Vs. Sanjeev Kumar and Others case with regard to the misuse of the RTI Act.
Pronouncing the judgment, the Chief Information Commissioner Punjab S.S. Channy finds that it is its duty to see that such blatant misuse of RTI Act should not be allowed further and such a situation needs to be appropriately dealt with to secure faith of the public in this ‘Sun Shine Act’ and remove obstacles in the functioning of public authorities. The appellant’s act of running riot with filing repeated applications seeking inane and voluminous information has become counter-productive to public interest, which cannot be allowed. I see his act as a misuse rather abuse of the RTI Act with unsavory motives.
Hence, the Commission allows the Public Authorities in the Department of Education, in general, and the Principal, Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Ropar, in particular, to ignore his RTI applications in future. So, he is hereby debarred from seeking information from the Public Authorities of Education Department, Punjab.