Bar & Bench: New Delhi: Thursday, August 17, 2017.
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.
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