The Chhattisgarh government’s move to frame Right to Information (RTI) Rules 2009, imposing a word limit and fixing the number of subjects to be asked in a single application, has drawn severe criticism.

The state’s General Administration Department finalised a notification late last month, framing state RTI (Presentation of Application) Rules 2009 under which a request seeking information could contain questions only about one subject and the total words in the application could not exceed more than 150 words. It will come into force after its publication in the state gazette.

An official spokesman said any applicant keen to seek information about separate subjects would have to file separate applications with the Public Information Officers (PIO). If any application contained questions pertaining to more than one subject, the PIO concerned will only reply to the subject mentioned first in the application, he said, adding the PIO could then advise the applicant to file separate applications for securing information on other subjects.

Sources said the decision to formulate these rules was apparently prompted by the growing perception within the state government that the RTI Act was gradually becoming a “tool handy for blackmailers”.

However, former chief minister Ajit Jogi questioned the motive behind framing such rules at a time when serious complaints of corruption in paddy procurement scheme surfaced and the opposition party was raising a number of other corruption issues. “RTI experts see it as an attempt to stonewall and further delay the process of information- gathering which apparently suits the government of the day,” he said.

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