7 funny reasons for which Right To Information petitions were filed

India Today: New Delhi: Thursday, 01 October 2015.

What is RTI?

RTI is the Right to Information Act of the Parliament of India under which citizens have right to information in a practical regime. But this right is often misused and nonsensical petitions are filed which actually hamper with the functioning and transparency of the system.

Here are some funny RTIs which were filed in the various departments of the government:

1. Find me a match!

A man from Gujarat demanded to know the number of eligible females in the government department for marriage because he really wanted to get married to a government employee.

He must have been desperate to take advantage of all the free government facilities.

2. The rainbow parties

In 2014, a political activist in his RTI application wondered why the election symbols on the voting machine were displayed only in black and white? He indeed wanted to add some colour in the minds of the EC.

3. Child's play

This smart kid knows his rights already!

9-year-old Pranav in a RTI wanted to ensure the police officers file an FIR for his lost bicycle. The police initially did not take this case up because of its triviality.

This kid is definitely smarter than a fifth grader!

4. RTI against a RTI activists and the activist responded with a RTI

Okay, this is some high level commitment and love for RTIs

A politician filed a RTI application to find out what a certain RTI activist in Dhanakwadi was up to so that he could stop him and their is no interruption in their illegal work and their actions do not come into light. But the activist responded with another petition against the politician.

5. PM office, please specify the code

One of the most bizarre RTI ever, in September 2012, a man filed a petition seeking an answer to the kind of undergarments that can be worn before the Prime Minister. He addresses it directly to the PMO asking for the exact "specification of undergarments".

Earlier, he had been arrested for stripping down to his briefs which had anti-government slogans scribbled on it in a convention where Manmohan Singh was speaking. He indeed wanted to be sure this time.

6. Such innocence

A petition was filed by an applicant who wanted to know the address of the places where question papers of the Aligarh Muslim University were printed and where the location of the evaluation centers.

Bravo, student.

7. Did Bush get my ladoo?

In February 2008, a girl from Uttar Pradesh asked NHRC on why the ladoos sent by her to former US President George W. Bush on Rakshabandhan never reached him.