The Odisha State Information Commissioner has barred a Right To Information (RTI) activist from filing any further RTI applications in the commission for a period of one year from Saturday (September 13, 2025).
The order, many RTI activists termed bizarre, was passed by Susanta Kumar Mohanty, a career journalist who became State Information Commissioner (SIC) in 2023.
In his order SIC Mr. Mohanty pointed out that appellant one, Chittaranjan Sethy, had filed numerous appeals and complaints under the RTI Act, 2005, seeking a wide range of information from various public authorities across Odisha, which are pending for adjudication in this Commission.
“Out of the cases filed by the appellant in this Commission, 61 (35 second appeals and 26 complaints) cases in the year 2023 have been listed for hearing before this bench and are being taken up together and disposed of by way of a common order,” said the SIC.
The information commissioner said applications were repetitive in nature and burdensome for public authorities.
