CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has set aside, in part, an order of the Odisha Information Commission (OIC) debarring RTI applicant Chittaranjan Sethy from filing further applications, holding that such restrictions were not justified under the RTI Act.
The single judge bench of Justice RK Pattanaik was hearing a writ petition filed by Sethy challenging the OIC’s order dated September 13, 2025, by which he had been debarred from approaching the commission for one year on the ground of “abuse of the RTI process”.
The commission had earlier observed that Sethy had filed a large number of RTI appeals and complaints across various departments, allegedly resulting in wastage of public resources and administrative time. A total of 61 cases filed by him in 2023 were heard together and dismissed by a common order. While debarring him from the commission for one year, the OIC had allowed him to file a maximum of 12 RTI applications in a calendar year before various public authorities.
After examining the applications and the information sought, the high court noted that the entire information had not been supplied to the petitioner.
The court observed that, except for the information already provided, the remaining information should be shared with him in accordance with law.
The court further held that the restriction imposed by the commission - preventing the petitioner from filing applications before it and limiting him to 12 RTI applications in a year - was not justified. The bench concluded that the commission could not have imposed such a restriction on the petitioner even if he was in the habit of filing numerous RTI applications.
Accordingly, the writ petition was disposed of with directions to supply the balance information. The impugned OIC order dated September 13, 2025, was set aside to that extent.