Times of India: Mumbai: Thursday,
April 03, 2014.
The state
chief information commissioner (CEC) has directed the BMC to pay Rs 50,000
compensation to south Mumbai resident Nandu P Kapadia who had sought information
under an RTI application, but did not get it within the 30-day stipulated
period resulting in his house on Princess Street being demolished.
This is the
second such landmark ruling by the state CEC. In 2013, the Mumbai University
was told to pay Rs 1 lakh compensation to an RTI applicant, who had sought
records of the minutes of the management council meetings in the last 10 years.
After hearing
Kapadia's complaint, state CEC Ratnakar Gaikwad directed the first appellate
officer to ensure payment of the compensation before April 30, and issued a
show-cause notice asking the officer to appear before him for clarifications.
"If not, then a penalty will be imposed on the officer," the order
said. The penalty can be up to Rs 25,000.
On October
11, 2013, Kapadia filed an RTI plea seeking information from the C ward office
on certain documentary proof related to his property, which was under
litigation, that had to be presented in court. When he did not get the
information, he approached the first appellate officer on December 6, 2013. The
officer ordered that Kapadia get the information within seven days, but he
never got it.
Kapadia told
Gaikwad that the official neither responded to his plea properly nor told him
that he had to deposit an amount to get photocopies of the required documents.
"He has suffered an irreparable loss following the inability of the
officials in giving information within the stipulated timeframe," the
order said.
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