The Delhi High Court has raised serious questions and expressed concern over the misuse of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, which is considered an important weapon against corrupt systems and injustice.

The court said that this Act was created to provide secure access to information to every citizen as well as to prevent corruption and hold governments and their machinery accountable. Many such cases are coming before the court, in which misuse of the RTI Act has created fear among government officials.

A bench of Justice Subramaniam Prasad said the objective of the RTI Act is to advance good governance, and its unfortunate misuse will dilute its importance and prevent government employees from performing their duties. The court made this comment while disposing of the petition of Shishir Chand challenging an order passed by the Central Information Commission (CIC).

The court said that there is no doubt that the RTI Act is being misused by the petitioner, Shishir Chand, by repeatedly filing applications to find out the degree of Dr. Atul Chhabra. Calling it a classic case of misuse of RTI, the bench said that Shishir was repeatedly trying to question the degree of the doctor, whereas the judicial order had said that the doctor had the requisite qualification.

The court said that even though some of the petitioners are misusing the RTI process, it is the duty of the authorities to provide information, and there is no need to provide the same information when it is provided. The information that has already been given does not need to be given again, and the application can be rejected on this basis.

Petitioner Shishir Chand had challenged the order of CIC, in which CIC had directed its registry to investigate the case of the untimely death of Shishir Chand's younger brother due to medical negligence of Dr. Atul Chhabra of Tata Memorial Hospital, Jamshedpur. Any other application seeking information in this regard should not be considered. A total of 15 RTI applications were filed by Chand seeking information about the concerned doctor along with other details.