New Delhi, May 30 (IANS) The Central Information Commission has directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to hand out a compensation of Rs.3000 to an RTI applicant for providing “misleading information” which caused her mental and physical harassment.
Laxmi Aggarwal had filed a right to information (RTI) application with the DDA on March 11, 2011, inquiring the time of de-sealing and demolition of an unauthorised construction on the fifth floor of a building in the capital.
On May 25, 2012, Information Commissioner Deepak Sandhu directed the DDA to pay a compensation of Rs.3,000 to Aggarwal, saying that the appellant has been put to a loss of two years during which the matter could have been taken up with Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
“She has been made to run from pillar to post in vain by the respondent before the wrong agencies due to the misleading information provided to her by the respondent, thereby causing her physical and mental harassment as well financial loss,” Sandhu said in his order.
Earlier, in DDA’s reply, its building and land management departments put the onus of demolishing the structure on each other. This position continued in the next 10 DDA replies to Aggarwal between Aug 11, 2011, and Feb 29, 2012.
However, the DDA withheld an important information that the land area in which the structure was located had already been transferred to the MCD through a notification of June 4, 2010. After this it did not have any jurisdiction over the property.
