KRISHAN GOPAL DHAWAN Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition arises out of the following facts :-

(2.) ON the information supplied by the petitioner, 245 gold biscuits were seized by the Custom and Police Department on 17.1.1994 and the smugglers, who were carrying the contraband, were arrested. A sum of Rs. 7,14,000/- was sanctioned as reward money and paid to the petitioner on 30.5.1994 and he was also informed that the final reward would be paid to him only after the case had been finally adjudicated upon by the competent authority. It is the admitted case that a further sum of Rs. 3,00,000/- has been sanctioned and paid to the petitioner thereafter. The petitioner, however, continued making representations to the respondents that as per paragraph 3.1.1 of the Government instructions dated 30.3.1985, copy Annexure P-1 to the petition he was entitled to a reward of upto 20% of the market value of the goods involved and that he had received only a paltry amount and that the balance amount be paid to him. As no action was taken by the respondents on the petitioner's claim, he issued a legal notice and having yet again failed to elicit any response, has filed the present petition. Reference in this case has been made to paragraph 3.1.1 of the aforesaid instructions.

(3.) MR . Chopra, the learned counsel for the petitioner, has argued that as per showing of the Department, 245 gold biscuits that had been seized consequent upon the information given by the petitioner, were valued at Rs. 1,35,76,773/- and Rs. 10,14,000/- given to the petitioner did not represent 20% of the value of the goods and no reasons have been spelt out for having given the lesser amount. As against this, Ms. Renu Bala Sharma, the learned counsel for Union of India, has urged that the 20% reward referred in paragraph 3.1.1 was the maximum and it was always open to the competent authority to give a lesser amount keeping in view the fact that the informer may not have undergone serious danger or discomfort while giving the information. In this connection, she has referred to Paragraph 4.1 of the instructions, Annexure P-1.