Former director general of Doordarshan Shiv Sharma, who was ordered to pay Rs 6 lakhs for unauthorised occupation of the official accommodation, had to wait for 12 long years to get a breather from the Delhi high court, which quashed the government order. In the wake of severe injuries in a militant attack that killed his driver in June 1991, the then D-G of Doordarshan was granted permission to retain his official residence for a year after his retirement in 1991.
In exchange, Mr Sharma placed his own DDA flat in Munirka at the disposal of the directorate of estates.
A year later, Mr Sharma sought to retain the official residence for more time as he felt insecure moving out of his fortified government accommodation. However, his request was rejected in February 1994 and in October 1997, he received a letter asking him to vacate and pay Rs 5,92,992 as damages for unauthorised occupation. Sharma approached the high court and got an interim stay order in January 1998.
In April 2002, the high court was informed that Sharma would move into his Munirka flat.
However, when Sharma took possession of his flat in May 2002, he found that there were unpaid water and electricity bills of over Rs 4 lakhs.
Pointing out that the government had not duly compensated Sharma, Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said that the waiver of the damages of less than Rs 6 lakhs is the least compensation the government could pay to the petitioner.