Government contractor claims he and his family members were being harassed. He got justice from the Central Information Commission on both occasions
Government contractor claims he and his family members were being harassed. He got justice from the Central Information Commission on both occasions
As a government contractor, Pawan Kumar has had to deal with people in power on various occasions. In personal life, however, his experiences with various government agencies have mostly been bitter. A few years ago the Roop Nagar resident came to know that a private telecom company was planning to install a mobile tower in the area. 
Justice at last: Pawan Kumar (left)filed an RTI plea against MCD after
its engineer sealed a cell tower on his land illegally. Pic/Subhash Barolia
He approached and got the opportunity and the company started putting up the tower on his property. But as work began, officers of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi allegedly broke into his building and sealed the entire property saying that the construction was illegal.
"On 15th of December 2008 the MCD officials sealed my building and told me that the construction was illegal. I showed them the papers of their own department in which they had granted permission for the construction. But the officials didn't listen to me and gave me no relief either," Pawan told MiD DAY.
Shocked by the attitude of the MCD officials, the victim then filed an RTI. The Central Information Commission (CIC) asked the civic agency about the documents based on which the sealing was carried out. But MCD officials failed to produce any evidence to prove that the sealing was genuine.
"MCD officials replied to the RTI with the reference of a complaint letter. But they failed to produce the letter itself and they even failed to justify the sealing. Then I again moved to the CIC. The CIC then ordered the MCD Commissioner on 29th of November 2010, to withhold the sealing as it was declared inappropriate.
The CIC also ordered him to take disciplinary action against the Executive Engineer VP Dahiya who operated the sealing. The CIC even ordered the deduction of 25,000 rupees as a fine from Dahiya's salary in the denomination of 5000 rupees per month and the penalty to be submitted to the Pay and Accounts officer CAT," Pawan added.
The saga of alleged ill-treatment by government agencies didn't end. The complainant then had a run-in with Delhi police.
"My brother has filed a case in a family dispute in the Roop Nagar police station but the cops have messed up the status report. I asked the cops about the same but they answered that the report was not available. Police officials said that they have filed a report in Delhi High Court where the hearing of my case was going on but it was also not found. I again moved to the CIC.
The cops repeated the same story before the commission. The CIC has now ordered action against the concerned cops if they don't provide the report. The commission ordered the police on February 22 to take action within three weeks," Pawan added. When contacted, police officials remained silent on the issue.
Policingu00a0the police
On February 7, a lawyer and Save the Yamuna activist was allegedly threatened by the SHO Jamia Nagar for filing RTIs and Pleas against encroachment on the river bed in Jamia Ngar.
The complainant Jagbir Singh was fighting with the encroachment issue from last 15 years and on his writ plea the Delhi High Court ordered to stop the illegal construction in 300 meters area of the river bed. The complainant Jagbir Singh filed an RTI on March 21 to find out about the action taken by cops after his complaints against the Jamia Nagar SHO. The reply from the agency is still awaited.
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