Bombay High Court (Express Photo by Pradeep Kocharekar/Files)
The Bombay High Court Friday rejected a Maharashtra government application seeking that the court review its order directing the state to pay Rs 1 lakh to an RTI activist to cover the costs he had incurred in exposing fraud relating to issuance of fitness certificates for vehicles.
The state said paying such a cost would put a burden on the exchequer. “It will be difficult to comply with the court’s order since this will impose a burden on the state exchequer,” said the application made by the government through the additional transport commissioner.
“In a meeting headed by the state transport minister, it was decided that the court be urged to review its order. Besides, the petitioner (activist Shrikant Karve) had not made any specific prayer for such payment,” said state counsel Abhinandan Vagyani. However, a bench of Justice A S Oka and Justice Anil Menon rejected the prayer.
“This is shocking. This person has helped unearth a scam, a problem within your system and has helped you save on a lot of money. But the state feels paying him is burdensome,” it said, adding, “The application is rejected.” On November 17, irked with non-compliance of its orders on regulating the issuance and renewal of fitness certificates for vehicles, the bench had directed the government to appoint a senior IAS officer to probe irregularities within the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) in Maharashtra. It had also asked the state to pay Rs 1 lakh to litigant.
The bench had given the direction while hearing a PIL filed Pune-based RTI activist Shrikant Karve raising the issue of non-compliance of rules by the regional transport offices (RTOs) while issuing fitness certificates or renewal of those.
On the last hearing, Karve had also informed the court of an officer who was posted in Solapur but issued fitness certificates from Pune without having any authority to do so.