BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Information Commission (OIC) has asked the state police to conduct an inquiry into allegations of bribery involving a habitual RTI applicant. The registrar of the commission has written a letter to the DGP seeking appropriate investigation in this regard.
Officials said the commission recently received a complaint along with a video clip in which an RTI applicant Tankadhar Sahu, hailing from Balangir district, was allegedly seen demanding illegal gratification from public information officers (PIOs) to withdraw his RTI complaints.
On scrutiny of records, it was found that Sahu had filed hundreds of RTI applications against various government departments, many of which are at different stages of adjudication before the commission. Further examination revealed that he had been frequently camping in Bhubaneswar and allegedly demanding bribes from PIOs and first appellate authorities attending hearings before the Odisha Information Commission.
It was alleged that he adopted a method of seeking adjournments during hearings and, upon receipt of illegal gratification, withdrawing the cases.
The matter was placed before a full bench of the commission, which after due consideration decided to refer the case to the police authorities for inquiry, along with the video clip and related materials as evidence. The commission has also decided to keep all cases filed by the said applicant pending till completion of the inquiry.
The commission has also directed all PIOs and first appellate authorities to keep the cases filed by Sahu pending and identify other instances, if any, where provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005 have been misused.