SC stays NICE staff compensation order

The Supreme Court has stayed a Karnataka High Court order that directed the chief secretary to pay a compensation of Rs one lakh each to two employees of the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) for “wrongful detention and confinement” in a 2013 case related to cheating the government and encroachment of public land.

A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Ajay Rastogi agreed to examine a special leave petition filed by the state government against the high court’s judgement passed on September 26, 2018.

Additional Advocate General Devadatt Kamat, appearing for the state government, questioned the validity of the judgement, which had quashed an FIR registered by the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) on April 18, 2013, and directed the chief secretary to pay compensation to NICE employees after recovering the money from the “erring officials”.

Court notice

After a brief hearing, the court directed: “Until further orders, there shall be (a) stay of operation of impugned judgement with regard to (a) direction to the petitioner (Government of Karnataka) to pay compensation.”

The top court decided to consider the petition along with other companion matters and issued (a) notice to the NICE employees, Srinath Mangalore and Pavan Kumar B.

Acting on writ petitions, the high court had said Srinath and Pavan were working in NICE, but they were apprehended and detained so they were liable to be compensated. It also held the police working with the BMTF didn’t have the authority to arrest the petitioners.