RTI Cannot be Used to Extort Advertisements, Central Information Commission

The Right to Information (RTI) Act cannot be used for extorting advertisements from an organisation, Central Information Commissioner Prof. Madabhushi Sridhar Acharyulu has held on 28 July..The order came on a complaint filed by Munna Ahmad, editor of a magazine Alfaaz Daily against the Dargah Khwaja Sahib Ajmer, which he complained had denied him information under the Act .He had sought information on complaints filed against employees of the Dargah and the status report of the inquiry conducted by the Dargah..In his order, while directing the Dargah to provide the information to the Ahmad, Prof. Acharyulu observed that RTI Act could not be used “to build pressure” for personal gains. This came came after the Public Information Officer of the Dargah said the RTI applications were filed by Ahmad after the Dargah stopped giving advertisements in the magazine edited by him..Prof. Acharyulu held,.“As a journalist, appellant has every right to criticise the functioning of public authority. As a citizen, he can also file RTI application. But he has no right to demand advertisements for his magazine building pressure of RTI applications.”.He also cited the Press Council of India Act, which allows a public authority to file a complaint against a journalist for unethical conduct, if any. This came after Ahmad said he had also filed a complaint to the Press Council of India against the Dargah for not giving advertisements..The CIC’s ruling comes as a boost for those who want to weed out frivolous and malicious applications from the RTI process, so that the functioning of the Act is not hobbled..Read the order: