New Road Sign of MCC

MGP had complained last year that the cement concrete road signs which had been installed all over Mysore had faded or had been defaced. Also, they are a hindrance to pedestrians. MGP had suggested that painted metal plate signs positioned several feet above the ground are a better option. We are happy to note that Mysore City Corporation is installing such  metal street sign boards. Presumably the concrete boards will be removed.

But there are several problems with the new boards:

1. Too much information is on the boards. The boards carry the legend MCC, the name of the locality, ward number and in some cases, the name of the corporator as well. This is too much information to pack on a road sign. Further, some of the words are left to right and some of them top to bottom, making quick reading of the signs difficult. We believe that the names of the street written left to right are enough. Since Mysore is being promoted as a tourist attraction, it would be better if the names of the streets are also in English for the benefit of the tourists.

2. The boards should be standardized. For example, in the USA, the street signs are made of aluminium, are at least 6 inches in height and the letters are at least 4 inches in height (MUTCD Code for traffic signs). The paint should be fade-resistant so that the boards are long-lasting.

3. As far as possible, separate poles should not be put up to display the road signs. Such poles are an additional impediment to pedestrians. The signs should be mounted at a height of at least 7 feet on a street light pole at a traffic intersection. This will not only minimize obstruction to pedestrians, it will also help readability at night because of the street light.

4. It will be beneficial to the public if door numbers can be indicated. One way to do it would be to display the door number immediately next to the sign and indicate if the numbers increase as one moves away from the sign in the direction it is pointing. To make this suggestion truly useful, a scientific system for house numbers must be implemented.

R Chandra Prakash, MGP

Will the Campa Cola Judgment Have an Effect in Karnataka?

In Karnataka, buildings violating municipal bylaws are the order of the day. Among new constructions, buildings which do not violate the building bylaws in any way are almost nonexistent. With illegal buildings (and even illegal layouts) springing up everywhere and the authorities taking no action, the situation seems hopeless. Many believe that the recent judgment of the Supreme Court ordering the demolition of several illegal floors of the Campa Cola Apartments in Mumbai will rein in such illegal construction. Will the judgment have any major effect in Karnataka? 

A careful reading of the judgment does not give much hope. There are basically two reasons for this pessimistic view: 

1. Despite several strong orders of the Supreme Court and various High Courts, illegal constructions are increasing rapidly all over the country. In fact, in its Campa Cola order, the Supreme Court has recognized that judicial orders have had little effect in curbing illegal constructions. Quoting an earlier decision ((2009) 15 SCC 705), the Supreme Court says  "Unfortunately, despite repeated judgments by this Court and the High Courts, the builders and other affluent people engaged in the construction activities, who have, over the years shown scant respect for regulatory mechanism envisaged in the municipal and other similar laws, as also the master plans, zonal development plans, sanctioned plans, etc., have received encouragement and support from the State apparatus. As and when the Courts have passed orders or the officers of local and other bodies have taken action for ensuring rigorous compliance with laws relating to planned development of the cities and urban areas and issued directions for demolition of the illegal/unauthorized constructions, those in power have come forward to protect the wrongdoers either by issuing administrative orders or enacting laws for regularization of illegal and unauthorized constructions in the name of compassion and hardship." In fact, Maharashtra has passed Regulations which allow for the regularization of the illegal Campa Cola buildings, but the Supreme Court held that  they can not be applied since they came into effect after the case was filed. In Karnataka also, successive governments have announced  "Akrama-Sakrama" schemes and seem bent on perpetuating illegal constructions. 

2. Quoting another earlier decision ((2004) 8 SCC  733), the Supreme Court says "Builders violate with impunity the sanctioned building plans and indulge in deviations much to the prejudice of the planned development of the city and at the peril of the occupants of the premises constructed or of the inhabitants of the city at large...If such activities are to  stop some stringent actions are required to be taken by ruthlessly demolishing the illegal constructions and non-compoundable deviations. The unwary purchasers who shall be the sufferers must be adequately compensated by the builder. The arms of the law must stretch to catch hold of such unscrupulous builders...Probably (the builder) was under the impression that he would be able to either escape the clutches of the law or twist the arm of the law by some manipulation. This impression must prove to be wrong." After having said this, the Supreme Court, in the Campa Cola order does not punish either the builders or the officials who allowed fourteen illegal floors to be constructed. It just said that the illegal floors should be demolished and that the flat buyers were free to avail appropriate remedy against the developers/builders. Such a lenient order is not likely to deter the builders from building illegal buildings and the officials from conniving with the builders.

B.V. Shenoy, Mysore Grahakara Parishat 

IT Act non operational in Karnataka

The Information Technology Act was passed by the parliament in 2000. It gives legal recognition to electronic records and digital signatures and enables the signing of contracts via the internet. It also defines legal rights and obligations in transactions done through the internet. The IT Act is regarded as having played an important role in the explosive growth of IT industry in India.

    The Act also deals with various forms of cyber-crimes and punishments for them. It establishes adjudicating officers (equivalent to judges) to try cyber-crimes. The adjudicating officers for cyber-crimes are the Information Technology Secretaries of the various state governments. If the decision of the adjudicating officer is not satisfactory, it can be appealed before the cyber appellate tribunal also established by the Act.

    Sec. 61 of the Act mandates that matters covered by the Act have to be decided by the adjudicating officers only and no other court has jurisdiction. Since Sec. 81 of the Act gives it overriding powers with respect to other laws, there is no escape from this provision of the Act. The exclusion of the jurisdiction of other courts in IT matters has created a problem in Karnataka.

    According to the NASSCOM website, egovreach.in/social/node/240 Karnataka has registered the highest number of cyber-crimes among all states. But successive IT Secretaries avoided adjudicating cyber-crime cases for over a decade. Recently some cases have been taken up, but they are mostly connected with cyber-cafes and not with consumers. In the very few consumer cases that the adjudicating officers have taken up, they have ruled that cases in which companies are defendants are not covered by the IT Act. This ruling which disqualifies almost all complaints under the IT Act is evidently based on a misreading of the law, but appeals against the ruling are in limbo because the cyber appellate tribunals have not been set up. Since other courts are prohibited from taking up IT cases, persons who have suffered from cyber-crimes in Karnataka are having no legal recourse at all. But other states do not seem to have this problem. 

    Let us now look at the provisions of the IT Act. According to Secs. 43 and 66 of the Act, breaking into computers to either gain confidential information or to destroy stored data, launching denial of access attacks, sending offensive e-mails, and phishing (sending e-mails to deceive the recipient into revealing confidential information) are cyber-crimes which can be punished by upto 3 years in prison and upto Rs. 5 lakhs in fines in addition to restitution of loss suffered due to these cyber-crimes. There are also more serious cyber-crimes such as transmitting obscene pictures or cyber-terrorism which carry heavier punishment. 

    If a company (or a bank) which possesses or handles sensitive personal data is negligent in implementing and maintaining reasonable security practices and procedures and thereby causes wrongful loss or wrongful gain to any person, such a company (or bank) will have to pay damages by way of compensation, upto Rs. 5 crores. 

    Consumer courts have given judgments in recent years on credit card frauds in which hackers steal credit card numbers and passwords from bank computers and use this information to withdraw money from customer accounts. Such matters are covered by the IT Act and therefore consumer courts are prohibited from accepting such cases. 

    We might be entering into a paperless world in which business, news, entertainment, etc. might all be through electronic communication. The present IT Act is a major step in trying to address the problems of such a world. But at first sight, there seem to be several shortcomings in the Act. Some of them are:
* The Act gives almost unlimited powers to the government to intercept e-mails and thus become a big brother.
* The Act gives validity to e-contracts, but does not define when and where the contract is concluded, unlike similar laws in other countries.
* Drug dealers worldwide are increasingly resorting to the internet. The Act is silent on this issue.
* Since the internet transcends national barriers and many cyber-criminals are outside India, it is not clear if the Act has the jurisdiction to punish them.
* The restrictions on cyber-cafes contained in the Rules made under the Act are so restrictive that if they are really implemented, all cyber-cafes in India would have to be closed.

Dwarkanath Narayan, MGP