The Supreme Court on Wednesday reprimanded the Maharashtra government for not filing its reply in the matter of construction of buildings on forest land and payment of compensation to the affected private party.
The apex court also said that the Maharashtra government has funds to distribute free things under schemes like ‘Ladli Behna’ and ‘Ladka Bhau’ but does not have funds to compensate for loss of land.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai, K V Vishwanathan and Sandeep Mehta gave the state government time till August 13 to file its reply and said if the order is not followed then the chief secretary will have to appear before the court.
The Supreme Court was hearing a case related to the construction of buildings on forest land in Maharashtra.
A private party has succeeded in getting possession of land from the apex court which was ‘illegally occupied’ by the state government.
The Maharashtra government has claimed that the said land was occupied by the Armament Research Development Establishment Institute (ARDEI), a unit of the Centre’s Defence Department.
The government said that later another land was allotted to the private party in place of the land in possession of ARDEI. However, it was later discovered that the land allotted to the private party was notified as forest land.
The Supreme Court bench reprimanded the Maharashtra government, saying, ‘As per our order of July 23, we have directed you (the state government) to clarify your stand on land ownership on affidavit. If you do not file your reply, we will ask your Chief Secretary to be present here next time… You have money to distribute free goods under ‘Ladli Behna’ and ‘Lada Bhau’, but you have no money to compensate for the loss of land.’
According to Bar and Bench, Justice Gavai said, “Don’t take this court lightly. You can’t take every court order lightly like this. You have enough money for things like Ladli Bahu (schemes). All the paddy was spent on freebies. You should have spent the money on distributing land compensation.”
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