Order on Board

1. This Review Petition has been filed for review of order dated 13.05.2026 passed in WPC No.3944 of 2021 { Shri Shatruhan Lal Dadsena vs. Chhattisgarh State Information Commission and Others} which was filed by Respondent No.3 herein against the order dated 29.05.2021 passed by the Chhattisgarh State Information Commission, Raipur in four complaint cases instituted against him viz Complaint Case Nos.C/287/2019, C/288/2019, C/289/2019, C/290/2019.

2. By the order dated 29.05.2021, a fine of Rs.25,000/- in respect of each complaint cases has been imposed upon on Respondent No.3 herein and it has been recommended to take disciplinary action against him on account of non furnishing of information by him within time limit as sought under Right to Information Act, 2005 by Respondent No.3/review petitioner.

3. Facts of the case in short are that Respondent No.3 herein was Secretary of Gram Panchayat, Dongarigardh, District Mungeli Chhattisgarh and under Right to Information Act, 2005¹The RTI Act, he was also the Public Information Officer of the said office. During his tenure as a Secretary of the said Gram Panchayat, review petitioner filed an application seeking information under the RTI Act in respect of grant of Forest Rights lease within the jurisdiction of the panchayat and for that, he filed four different RTI applications dated 21.08.2018. Reliefs prayed for by review petitioner in those four RTI applications are as under:-

First Application :- A copy of the notice published by the Panchayat calling for the applications for objections relating to grant of forest rights leases under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

Second Application :- A copy of the documents relating to constitution of Forest Rights Committee and documents relating to the selection of the President and the Secretary of the said committee under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

Third Application :- A copy of list of objections sent to the Sub- District Level Committee relating to grant of forest rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

Fourth Application :- A copy of all the Letters received by the Panchayat from the Collector, Tehsildar, Forest Department, ST & SC Department relating to/under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

4. After hearing counsel for the parties, this Court allowed the said case and held that the complaint was entertained without exhaustion of the statutory appellate remedy and there is no conclusive finding that the RTI applications were duly received by the petitioner/Respondent No.3 herein, further no proper inquiry was conducted before imposing penalty and reasonable opportunity of hearing as mandated under Section 20(1) of the Act, 2005 was not meaningfully afforded. However, this Court in paragraph 30 of the said order observed as under:-

30. Moreover, as regards the conduct of Respondent No.3. It seems that Respondent No.3 is a habitual information seeker. It is also noticeable from the record that four separate RTI applications were filed on the same date and bombarded on the PIO seeking information substantially connected with the same subject matter. The information which has been sought by the Respondent No.3 is not having any nexus with being of utmost public importance. Though filing multiple applications is not per se illegal, the surroundi