HC defers hearing on Priyanka’s plea in land case

Vijay Arora

Shimla, April 28

The hearing on a petition filed by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra against the order of the State Information Commission, whereby it had directed the Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, to provide the details of the land purchase by Priyanka at Mashobra, has been deferred for June 6.

During the course of hearing, it was informed to the court by the counsel for RTI activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya that he had filed an application before the court for bringing on record certain documents obtained by the applicant under the RTI regarding information of the property of Priyanka in Delhi.

He had contended in the application that when the Delhi Government could provide the details of the property of Priyanka under the RTI, why the state government was not providing the same to him under the provisions of the RTI.

While listing the matter for June 6, Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan granted four weeks time to Priyanka to file her response to this application.

Priyanka had filed a petition through her Special Power of Attorney Sankaran Ramakrishnan challenging the order passed on June 29, 2015, by the state Information Commission on the ground that the commission had failed to appreciate that the information sought by Bhattacharya was qua the property of the petitioner and the information was thus personal to her.

It was further contended that while passing the order, the commission had not considered that the supply of information would infringe upon the personal rights of the petitioner and would invade her privacy.

It was further contended that every citizen has a right to seek information, while enforcing his or her fundamental rights envisaged under the Constitution, but such rights are, however, subject to reasonable restrictions as enumerated under Section 8 of the Right to Information Act, 2005. Thus by no stretch of imagination can it be said that the right of an individual to claim information is absolute and unrestricted.

Apart from this, the petitioner contended in the petition that the commission had failed to appreciate this fact that the RTI applicant had failed to disclose as what public interest would be satisfied in case the information demanded by him was supplied.

In her petition, Priyanka impleaded the Principal Secretary (Revenue), State Information Commission, Additional District Magistrate, Shimla, exercising the powers of the Appellate Authority under the RTI Act, Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, and applicant Dev Ashish Bhattacharya as party respondents in this case.

The DC, Shimla, had denied the information in his order on January 27, 2015, on the ground that since she was a SPG protectee, the giving out of the information could have a direct bearing on her security. He had cited the Special Protection Act, 2003, and also said she was a VVIP and had been provided proximate security by the SPG and this factor weighed with the state intelligence and also the President’s Secretariat.

Aggrieved from the order of the DC, the RTI applicant has challenged the same before the Information Commission. While disposing of the appeal of the RTI applicant, the Information Commission had directed the Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, to provide the entire information sought by Bhattacharya within 10 days.

It was in 2007 that Priyanka had bought a 4.25 bigha land in Mashobra at a cost of Rs 47 lakh to build her house. The government had given special relaxation to Priyanka, a non-Himachali, under the Tenancy and Land Reform Act to purchase land and the go ahead. She had later bought additional land adjacent to her property.

Bhattacharya had filed an application before the Public Information Officer in the Shimla Deputy Commissioner’s office for getting information about the land, sale deed, relaxation given by the state government to an outsider to buy land in Himachal, status of the land and if any communication had been made to Priyanka for not fulfilling the norms for the use of the land within the stipulated time.