HC directs Centre to pay reward to wife of informer

Informers take enormous risk, govt rewards would encourage them to come forward, says division bench

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has directed the Centre to pay a reward to the widow of a man who had tipped Customs officials about smuggled diamonds worth nearly Rs90 lakh in 1991.

Acknowledging informers and their work, a division bench comprising Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Ab- hay Ahuja, observed, “Informers take enormous risks, and the government’s approach should not discourage them from coming forward with information.”

In its order of January 05, which was made available later, the HC noted that the objective behind offering a reward to informers is to aid the department in taking measures to safeguard the

“The informers take enormous risks in providing information. Unfortunately, in this case, the respondents (Union government) have taken a rigid stand, when the correct approach would have been to go by broad probabilities of the case, the peculiar circumstances of the case and the hardship of the petitioner and should have handled this case with sensitivity.”

—Bombay High Court reminders. exchequer.

The Department told the court that it needed to first verify if Chandrakant was the real informer. But, the bench rejected the contention, noting that it had earlier released two advance payments to him. The HC noted that though there is no legal right to demand a reward, as per the policy, the rejection must not be arbitrary.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by one Jayashree Dhavre, widow of Chandrakant

Dhavre, seeking reward given to informers as per government policy. In 1991, the petition had claimed, the Cus- toms Department seized smuggled diamonds based on information shared by Chandrakant. The informer was paid an advance of Rs3 lakh over the next few years, but the final amount was never disbursed despite several

“The approach should not be such that it discourages the informers from coming forward. Ultimately, the objective of offering a reward to the informer is to aid the Department in taking measures to safeguard the public exchequer,” said the court.

The judges noted that the petitioner’s claim was meritorious and non-intervention by the court would “amount to a failure of justice”.

The bench directed the Union government to treat Jayashree Dhavre’s claim as eligible for the grant of final reward and determine the amount to be paid to her within 12 weeks.