Odisha Farmer Barred from Filing RTIs Over Alleged “Abuse” of Process

India’s Right to Information (RTI) Act of 2005 has long empowered citizens to demand accountability and expose corruption. But recently in Odisha, The State Information Commission recently barred Chittaranjan Sethy, a 51-year-old farmer, from filing new RTI applications for one year.

Sethy, from Mateipur panchayat in Puri district, had filed 61 RTIs seeking details on local income, expenditure, and development works. While he did receive responses and access to documents, the Commission termed his persistence “repetitive” and an “abuse of the RTI process.”

The order went beyond Sethy’s case. It introduced new restrictions for all applicants in Odisha: a cap of 12 RTI applications per year, mandatory affidavits disclosing the number of filings annually, and instructions to reject “burdensome” queries.

Sethy, who studied only till grade 6, lives alone, and relies on a BPL card, now faces further scrutiny, with the Commission asking the Collector to review his eligibility. Under the RTI Act, BPL applicants are exempt from the Rs 10 fee, a rule often questioned by officials.

The Supreme Court has already warned that the RTI framework risks becoming a “dead-letter law” as commissions across India remain understaffed and slow. Sethy, however, says he will not stop asking questions.