DNA: Mumbai: Monday, November 17, 2014.
Konkan bench
state information commissioner, Thanksi Thekkekara defended the compensation
order of Rs 5 lakh to an applicant. After the order was reported by the media,
activists criticised it for lack of detailed reasoning for such a high amount
of compensation.
The criticism
was that while it may not stand scrutiny in court, it will also open the floodgates
for seeking compensation. Thekkekara, however, in a series of messages stated
that as per a Supreme Court order, her order was justified. "In Khanapuram
Gandaiah vs administrative officer, civil appeal in 7571 of 2011, the
honourable supreme court has said that 'A judge speaks through his judgments or
orders passed by him.... A judge is not bound to explain later on for what
reasons he had come to such a conclusion'. The RTI commission is a
quasi-judicial authority. Please go through the order. You will find that
MSEDCL first occupied the appellant's land without his permission rendering the
entire piece of land unfit for use. The PIO denied him information as to how
this was done and gave false information that the permission of the
municipality was obtained and that oral permission was obtained. In fact they
suppressed the provision of the second 10 (d) of the Telegraph Act which
required fill compensation to be made to the land owner in case of destruction
of private land. In this case the land was rendered unfit for any use any
construction. (sic)"
However,
questions on whether it is beyond the capacity of the commission to decide on
compensating for the loss of land, arbitrary drop in the compensation from Rs20
lakhs to Rs5 lakhs, and if the commission will continue to give high
compensation, the commissioner stated that it was the wrong replies that lead
to the decision. "The false reply given has resulted in continued
injustice and harassment. Hence the compensation... Each case has to be considered
on its own merits," said Thekkekara.
The story
so far:
The state
information commission (SIC) has given a compensation of a whopping Rs 5 lakh
to a right to information applicant. The money is to be given by Maharashtra
State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) to Ambernath resident,
Nitin Desai for the harassment meted out to him while providing him
information, which happened to be misleading. The amount is highest ever
compensation given to an individual as of now. The Rs5 lakhs compensation order
was given on October 30 by state information commissioner (Konkan bench),
Thanksi Thekkekara.
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