The Supreme Court on Wednesday warned the Maharashtra government to put on hold its free schemes until it pays compensation to a private party whose land it had “illegally” occupied over six decades ago.
In a scathing rebuke to the Maharashtra government, the Supreme Court said the state has enough money to “waste on freebies” but does not have money to compensate a private party which has illegally lost its land to it.
Saying that Maharashtra’s conduct in the matter was not that of a ‘model state’, the Supreme Court warned that it may direct that all free schemes will remain suspended until the compensation amount is paid.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Vishwanathan said the state has offered Rs 37.42 crore as compensation while the counsel for the applicant argued that it amounts to about Rs 317 crore.
Advocate Nishant R Katneshwarkar, appearing for Maharashtra, urged the bench for three weeks’ time, saying the matter was being considered at the highest level and certain principles were required to be followed for calculating compensation as per the ‘ready reckoner’.
The bench said, “We give you three weeks’ time and pass an interim order that till we grant permission, no free scheme should be implemented in the state of Maharashtra. We will stop ‘Ladli Behen’, ‘Ladka Bhau’.”
Under the ‘Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Behin Yojana’ announced by the state government earlier this year, Rs 1,500 is to be transferred to the bank accounts of eligible women in the age group of 21 to 65 years whose family income is less than Rs 2.5 lakh.
Similarly, under the ‘Ladka Bhau Yojana’, the primary goal of the scheme is to provide financial assistance and practical work experience to the youth.
During the hearing, Katneshwarkar said that he follows the directions passed by the court but such comments make headlines.
Justice Gavai said, “Maybe. We are not concerned about it. We do not read newspapers. We are concerned about the rights of citizens.”
The bench said it was compelled to make these observations. “You have thousands of crores of rupees to waste on things that are being given away for free from the government treasury, but you don’t have money to give to a person who has been deprived of land without following due process of law,” the bench asked.
Citing earlier orders passed by the apex court, the bench said it has recorded “clear facts” in the case. It said since the court was not satisfied with the stand taken by the state in the affidavit filed on August 9, it had asked the state counsel to discuss with the chief secretary and bring an appropriate proposal.
The bench said that the petitioner’s land was illegally taken over by the state and later allotted to Armament Research Development Establishment Institute (ARDEI). The bench said that despite successfully advancing the case up to the Supreme Court, the applicant had to run from pillar to post to get his legitimate entitlement.
The bench said, “We are not impressed by (the state’s) arguments. If the state government wants to act promptly in some cases, decisions are taken within 24 hours. However, we are willing to give some more time to the state government to work out a fair compensation.”
The next hearing in the case will be on August 28. The bench said, ‘Needless to say that if the state government does not come up with any such proposal by that date, we will be constrained to pass appropriate orders.’
The state counsel said that they be allowed to file an affidavit to explain the steps they have taken. The bench said that the state can file an affidavit before the next date of hearing. “But if we find that discretion has not been exercised and he (the applicant) is being harassed… then we will not only direct that all compensation be paid as per the new Act, but we will also direct that till the amount is paid, all your free schemes will remain suspended,” the bench said.
The bench said, ‘We warn you that if we do not find this approach correct, then apart from the direction to pay compensation as per the new Act, the second direction will affect you more.’
The apex court was hearing a case related to construction of buildings on forest land in Maharashtra, where a private party has succeeded in getting possession of the land through the apex court which was ‘illegally occupied’ by the state. The state government has claimed that the said land is occupied by ARDEI, a unit of the Centre’s Defence Department.
Later, another plot of land was allotted to the private party in lieu of the land in possession of ARDEI, the government said.
However, it was later found that the land allotted to the private party was notified as forest land.
In its July 23 order, the bench said that the private party, which has succeeded till the apex court, cannot be denied the benefit of the ‘decree’ passed in its favour.
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