DJB to pay Rs 8,000 for mental agony
20 Jun 2012 6:37 AM IST
Harassment of citizens by public authorities is ‘socially abhorring and legally impermissible', the Delhi State Consumer Commission has said, asking Delhi Jal Board [DJB] to pay Rs 8,000 as compensation to a man for not providing proper drinking water. The commission gave the order dismissing the DJB argument that it was supplying water through water tanks regularly as demanded by the complainant.
‘The net result is that drinking facility is not provided properly to the complainant and the villagers. It may be pointed out here that harassment of a common man by public authorities is socially abhorring and legally impermissible', bench of Justice Barkat Ali Zaidi and Member V K Gupta said.
Raj Kumar, resident of Khera village in Najafgarh, had filed a complaint saying he was having a water connection and was also paying the charges regularly but the DJB was neither providing sufficient water supply nor through tankers to him. He said the civic body was also taking sewer charges from him but there was no sewer system at his residence and despite complaining several times, no action was taken. Kumar said around 500 illegal connections were given to various people and they used to fetch water from the pipeline in the area but no action was taken against them.
The bench said the amount awarded for harassment, mental agony and sufferings by public authorities not only compensate and satisfies an individual, but also helps in curing the ‘social evils’. ‘An ordinary citizen instead of complaining and fighting, succumbs to the pressure and undesirable functioning in the offices ... Compensation may result in improving work culture and help in changing the outlook.
‘The net result is that drinking facility is not provided properly to the complainant and the villagers. It may be pointed out here that harassment of a common man by public authorities is socially abhorring and legally impermissible', bench of Justice Barkat Ali Zaidi and Member V K Gupta said.
Raj Kumar, resident of Khera village in Najafgarh, had filed a complaint saying he was having a water connection and was also paying the charges regularly but the DJB was neither providing sufficient water supply nor through tankers to him. He said the civic body was also taking sewer charges from him but there was no sewer system at his residence and despite complaining several times, no action was taken. Kumar said around 500 illegal connections were given to various people and they used to fetch water from the pipeline in the area but no action was taken against them.
The bench said the amount awarded for harassment, mental agony and sufferings by public authorities not only compensate and satisfies an individual, but also helps in curing the ‘social evils’. ‘An ordinary citizen instead of complaining and fighting, succumbs to the pressure and undesirable functioning in the offices ... Compensation may result in improving work culture and help in changing the outlook.
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