K-west ward

RTI activists

BMC

Hemant Dalal

Ashwin Hirani

Sunil Tiwari

Mukesh Thakur

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Board calling them ‘professional complainants’ had been put up outsideoffice in September; internal report now recommends FIR against them for ‘harassing’ civic officials.Instead of initiating action against civic officials who attempted to name and shame, thehas in fact requested the police to lodge an FIR against the activists for defaming the civic body and interfering in government proceedings.A board carrying the names and pictures of the four activists, calling them ‘professional complainants’ was put up outside the K-west ward’s office in Andheri in September. It was removed following an outcry.Former Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Shailesh Gandhi had demanded action against the civic officials responsible for defaming the RTI activists.All four activists -and- had filed multiple complaints against a builder, who they allege had encroached upon a road in Vile Parle West, leading to traffic snarls in the neighbourhood.This was reported in Mumbai Mirror in September. At the time, Prashant Gaikwad, assistant commissioner, K-west ward, had said that the junior engineers had “erred” in putting up the board at the entrance of the ward office and had ordered removal of the board.But an internal report, in possession with Mirror, submitted to Gandhi stated that the junior officials had put up the board at Gaikwad’s behest.Kiran Achrekar, deputy municipal commissioner, Zone IV, in a report to Gandhi said that considering the “typical behaviour” of the activists with municipal officers for considerably long periods, action was initiated against them with the approval of higher authorities.The report states, “Hirani, Dalal and Tiwari have made lots of complaints regarding improvement and widening of 50-ft TP Road and 40-ft DP Road passing through Parsi Panchayat Colony and Hemu Castle in Vile Parle West. Hirani has made four RTI applications and eight complaints on various platforms of BMC. Dalal has made four complaints in DMC public grievance for which information has been provided to him from 2017 till date. However, they were complaining due to their personal interest with the developer of Hemu Castle. Hirani and Dalal have made false complaints against this office staff on various platforms. They have also made defamatory remarks against civic officials on social media.”The report therefore concluded that all four activists were complaining willingly with the intention to “harass” the office staff as information regarding widening of the roads had already been obtained by them since 2008.The report further stated that the K-west ward office was also privy to information that there were various criminal cases pending against Dalal and Hirani and various court cases pending in courts like Andheri and Borivali. Taking all this into account, Gaikwad had recommended that they be denied entry into the ward office and also initiated legal action against them.The report states that the ward has requested DN Nagar police to register an FIR against all four activists for interfering in government proceedings with “bad intention”.When Dalal was queried about the FIRs registered against the activists, he said, “They were all false cases lodged against us by the builder. A criminal writ petition of 2009 filed against us was also dismissed by the court. These are just excuses given by the BMC to deny us entry into the ward.”