Commission rebukes officers for arbitrary denial of RTI information

By A Representative

The Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) has imposed a penalty of ₹5,000 on the () of in for denying information to an RTI applicant by misinterpreting an earlier order of the Commission.

The Commission has also recommended disciplinary action against the , who acted as the , for negligence of duty.

The case pertains to a petition filed by applicant Pankaj Kamalashankar Rai regarding RTI queries submitted on documents related to house number allotment and construction permits involving . The PIO rejected the request, claiming that the petitioner had submitted more than , allegedly exceeding a permissible limit. The First Appellate Authority upheld the denial on the same grounds.

However, at a hearing held on 14 November 2025, the Commission clarified that its earlier February 2025 order—issued in Appeal Nos. A-2178-2024 and A-2739-2024—restricting specific applicants from filing more than 12 applications was applicable only to those particular applicants and not to the general public.

The Commission observed that officers across the state had begun demanding “confirmation forms” from RTI applicants and rejecting requests on the grounds of exceeding 12 applications, leading to widespread harassment and unnecessary appeals.

While penalising the PIO, the Commission noted that both the PIO and First Appellate Authority denied information without proper examination and by deliberately misinterpreting the order. It called the conduct a failure of duty and recommended action under the .

However, the Commission ultimately rejected the applicant’s requested information since it pertained to third-party records protected under , which covers personal details such as name, address, property transfer and construction permissions. The Commission found no demonstrated larger public interest to justify disclosure.

Social activists hope that the ruling will put an end to incorrect interpretation of the “12 RTI applications” order and provide relief to citizens facing arbitrary rejection of information requests.

The farmer's burden: How oil, war, and climate are rewriting the price of food

By Vikas Meshram The scorching flames of the Middle East conflict are now slowly reaching the kitchens of ordinary people. The true price of this war is paid in daily markets, vegetable shops, and in the shattered minds of farmers. Expensive crude oil, skyrocketing fertilizer prices, and rising agricultural costs are together creating the conditions for global food inflation — and this crisis is directly tied to what people eat and drink every day.

Economic nationalism under strain as Indian corporates turn to America

By Sandeep Pandey* U.S. federal prosecutors withdrew a criminal case involving allegations that Gautam Adani had bribed officials in India to secure solar energy projects, stating that they lacked sufficient evidence. Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani also settled a civil fraud case with the Securities and Exchange Commission by paying a fine of around ₹180 crore without admitting wrongdoing. In addition, Adani Enterprises reportedly deposited around ₹2,750 crore into the U.S. Treasury to resolve allegations that it had violated U.S. sanctions on Iran through purchases of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

India’s heatwave crisis: How concrete cities are fueling climate emergency

By Rajkumar Sinha* According to recent studies, urban areas are witnessing a much sharper rise in temperatures than rural regions. The planet is currently heading toward an additional 1.9°C of warming — far beyond the target envisioned under the Paris Agreement . A team of climate scientists associated with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has noted that India’s average temperature increased by nearly 0.9°C during the decade between 2015 and 2024 compared to the early twentieth century (1901–1930). In western and northeastern India, the hottest day of the year has already become 1.5°C to 2°C warmer since the 1950s.

Counterview

Search This Blog