Justice prevails finally after a long legal battle for 10 years when of a former I-T officer, PR Toora aged about 75 year old got back his “lost reputation” when Additional District Judge Arun Kumar Arya directed two Income Tax commissioners, chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the ministry of revenue liable for defamation and ordered to pay Rs 5,29,234 collectively.
According to PR Toora his seniors at the Income Tax department tried to “harass, humiliate and defame” him to settle personal scores . His only fault was that he married off his daughter to one of the senior officers and marriage did not work out . He was subjected to harassment after DB Lal, then commissioner of I-T Delhi, and W Wassan, then inspecting assistant commissioner of I-T range II, in connivance ordered for a vigilance inquiry against him despite him having a clean record. When they could not find anything, his transfer was ordered in May 1986. In 1988, a showcause notice, based on false allegations, was also issued against him. The officers went to the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which dismissed the disciplinary action report. To get him out of service, the accused officials also challenged the CAT order in the Supreme Court that dismissed it in 1997.For defaming him and maligning his career, Toora demanded Rs 9 lakh as damages. Even as the defendants pleaded for more time, ADJ Arya rejected the plea saying, “The man is a senior citizen.
This court’s did not allow any more time since the Mr Toora is a senior citizen and he has been fighting the case for 8 long years and followed after the parties failed to comply with a previous order dated June 4, 2008 passed by another court, which held the chairman of CBDT and the revenue ministry “liable for the act of their subordinates’ ‘.
