Ten people in Gujarat have been banned for life from filing Right to Information (RTI) queries in the last 18 months. The Gujarat Information Commission (GIC), which imposed the ban, listed 'using RTI Act to harass government officials' and 'filing multiple queries' as the reasons, according to a report by the Times of India.
The report quoted research by a Gujarat-based NGO saying that the information commissioners instructed officials not to provide any information regarding the queries in all 10 cases.
In one of the 10 cases, GIC imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on Hitesh Patel and his wife