India Live Today: Shimla: Tuesday,
February 07, 2017.
Shimla,
February 6: The High Court of Himachal Pradesh on Saturday appointed a counsel
for RTI activist into Priyanka Vadra’s land purchase deal case. Notably, the
high court has appointed a senior advocate, R.K. Bawa as petitioner’s counsel
along with an assistant, Jevan so that the case could be brought to a logical
conclusion.
Earlier in
September 2016, the activist expressed his inability to represent any of the counsel
before the court. The activist stated that because of the fear Gandhi family no
advocate from Himachal Pradesh came ahead to take the case. Moreover, the RTI
activist stated that he was not kept informed even regarding the appointment of
the counsel and he had to file an RTI to obtain the information. Earlier, the
Public Relation Officer of HP High Court, who was alleged of leaking court
order prior to the official date was also given clean chit without any proper
inquiry, activist alleged.
Still the
court directed the activist to produce a counsel or otherwise, the case will be
concluded in next hearing. But now activist’s plea seeking counsel is finally
accepted by the high court. It is worth noting that the senior counsel Bawa has
served as the General Attorney during the regime of former Chief Minister Prem
Kumar Dhumal. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for March 2017.
RTI activist
Dev Ashish Bhattacharya had filed an RTI application in 2014 seeking the
details of land
purchased by Priyanka Vadra in Charabra, about 13 km from capital city Shimla.
But he was denied information by the district administration of Shimla. The
denial of release of information by the administration was challenged by the
activist in his first appeal to the Chief
Information Commissioner of Himachal Pradesh.
However, the
Commissioner found the denial unlawful and immediately ordered the district
administration to provide the sought information to the applicant under RTI
Act, 2005 within 10 days. But Priyanka anyhow managed to obtain a stay on the
order and since then the case remains in the court.
Interestingly,
the sought information by activist included relaxation given to Priyanka under
Section 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Land and Tenancy Act 1972. This particular section
prohibits the sale of land to people who are not residents of Himachal. There
is only one exception to this rule via which it allows the sale to an outsider
for the purely agricultural purpose. However, Priyanka built a beautiful
Bungalow on the purchased land.
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