Sc Asks Sharma To Pay Damages For Quota Misuse

With this decision, the Supreme Court has set a precedent by which ministers and public servants can be asked to compensate the government for the loss the people suffer on account of arbitrary and malafide use of power by them.

The order has far-reaching consequences on the liability of ministers who misuse public office. If the people have suffered a loss on account of their misdeeds, the guilty may have to pay exemplary damages. The case of former urban development minister Sheila Kaul, who allotted prime commercial sites in Delhi to her favourites, is coming up in the apex court this week. It was in her case that the court had laid down the principles regarding the liability of erring ministers.

 

Applying the principle enunciated by the court, ministers involved in wrongful grant of tenders and other government largesse could also be asked to pay the public exchequer according to their financial capacity. The power vests not only in the Supreme Court and the high courts, but also in the civil courts.

The judges who have expanded the principle of torts to ministers are Justice Kuldip Singh and Justice Faizan Uddin.

Rejecting the challenge to the theory of compensation, the judges said: "The legal position is more or less settled that exemplary damages can be awarded in a case where action of a public servant is oppressive, arbitrary or unconstitutional."

They passed the order in a public interest petition filed by Common Cause society, which alleged that petrol and cooking gas outlets were being distributed to relatives and friends of Sharma's private secretaries. While the Supreme Court cancelled 15 such allotments, the high court is hearing the cases of 300 other allotments.

The judges the former minister was dealing with public property and since the government is "by the people" they have to be compensated. If the payment is not made within nine months, it can be recovered as arrears of land revenue under the Civil Procedure Code.