Times of India: Mumbai: Tuesday, January 31, 2017.
Bombay high
court on Monday imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on an activist, who sought more
information on the Metro III project pertaining to Aarey where the proposed car
shed will be built.
A bench of
chief justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Girish Kulkarni dismissed a petition
by Khar resident Zoru Bathena noting that he has already filed a public
interest litigation raising grievances about tree-cutting in the city and
"under the guise of non-furnishing of information under the Right to
Information Act is again seeking direction not to cut the trees.'' The bench
said Bathena "intends to make this petition as a platform for securing the
information."
According to
Bathena's petition, the urban development department issued a notice on
December 29, 2016 calling for objections and suggestions. Under RTI Bathena
learnt that authorities propose to cut over 5000 trees and to delete
non-development zone area of 3.30 lakh square meters for the car shed at Aarey
which is one of the few natural open lands left in Mumbai and contains
abundance of flora and fauna. He urged direction to the authorities to furnish
him more information. His advocate Kainaz Irani urged the bench to "at
least stay implementation of the notice'' so that he can submit his objections.
The bench
said Bathena could have made the plea in the PIL and questioned why he had not
approached the appellate authorities under RTI. "This is nothing but an
attempt to cut short the procedure which is prescribed under the RTI Act. This
is another litigation to fish out some information,'' it said. Bathena is
directed to pay the amount to the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority.
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