Karnataka State Human Rights Commission has done a yeomen service to the Cyber Crime victims of Karnataka by facilitating the reopening of the Adjdudication under ITA 2008 in the State.
It may be recalled that the IT Secretary of a State is the “Adjudicating Officer” of a State under ITA 2008 and has sole jurisdiction to adjudicate civil compensation claims under iTA 2008 for any contravention of ITA 2008 where the compensation claimed is less than Rs 5 crores.
Unfortunately, the earstwhile IT Secretary of the State namely Mr M.N.Vidyashankar had ruled that no cases can be registered for contraventions under Section 43 of the Act either by a Company or against a Company. This ruling though absurd defined the legal position in the State since around December 2011.
Naavi has been fighting to get this ruling reviewed and had been repeatedly knocking at the doors of the IT Secretary, Chief Secretary as well as the ministers such as Mr Suresh Kumar, Mr Yeddyurappa, Mr Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar. However none had taken any action so far.
The last letter written in this regard to the new IT Secretary had been marked as a copy to the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission since non availability of judicial redressal is a matter concerning “Human Rights”. The Commission took cognizance of the matter and issued notices to the parties mentioned in the complaint which included the Chief Minister of the State.
A few days back, the Chief Minister’s secretariat had sent an acknowledgement stating that necessary directions had been given to the IT Secretary. Yesterday, one of the complainant who has been adversely affected in the process received a communication that the current IT Secretary has decided to review the case and take up fresh hearing. We hope that other pending cases in a similar status will also come up for review.
Naavi.org welcomes the decision of the new IT Secretary and thanks the Karnataka Human Rights Commission for having taken up the cause of the public of Karnataka. Even before the Commission could have a hearing, positive action has already been initiated by the IT Secretary and it comes as a very pleasant surprise.
Naavi
