Will suspend all freebies until compensation is paid: SC warns Maharashtra govt

The Supreme Court on Wednesday warned the Maharashtra government of suspending its freebie schemes unless it pays compensation to a private party whose land was illegally occupied by it more than six decades agoComing down heavily on the Maharashtra government the apex court castigated it saying the state has huge amount to waste on freebies but does not have money to compensate to a private party which lost land to it illegallyObserving that Maharashtras conduct in the matter was not that of a model state the apex court warned it may direct that all the freebie schemes will be suspended until the compensation amount was not paidA bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan noted while the state has offered to pay Rs 3742 crore as compensation the applicants counsel has contended that it comes to around Rs 317 croreAdvocate Nishant R Katneshwarkar appearing for Maharashtra urged the bench to grant three weeks time saying the matter was being considered at the highest level and certain principle was required to be followed for calculating compensation according to the ready reckonerWe will grant you three weeks time and pass an interim order that until we permit no freebies schemes should be implemented in the state of Maharashtra We will stop Ladli Bahin Ladka Bhau the bench saidUnder the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana announced by the state government earlier this year Rs 1500 is slated to be transferred into the bank accounts of eligible women in the age group of 21 to 65 years whose family income was less than Rs 25 lakhSimilarly under the Ladka Bhau Yojana the schemes primary goal is to provide financial assistance and practical work experience to young menDuring the hearing Katneshwarkar said he bows down to the directions passed by the court but due to such observations headlines were madeMay be We are not bothered about it We dont read newspapers We are concerned about the rights of the citizens Justice Gavai observedThe bench said it was constrained to make those observationsYou have thousands of crores of rupees to waste on freebies from the money of the public exchequer but you dont have money to give to the person whose land has been deprived without following due process of law it askedReferring to the earlier orders passed by the apex court the bench said it had recorded the glaring facts in the matterIt noted since the court was not satisfied with the stand taken by the state in its affidavit filed on August 9 it had asked the states counsel to discuss with the chief secretary and come out with a proposal which would at least be reasonableThe bench noted the land belonging to the applicant was illegally taken in possession by the state and later it was allotted to the Armament Research Development Establishment Institute ARDEIIt said despite succeeding in the litigation right up to the apex court the applicant was required to run from pillar to post to get their legitimate dueWe are not impressed with the submissions of the state If the state government wants to act with urgency in certain matters the decisions are taken within 24 hours However we are inclined to give some more time to the state government to work out a reasonable compensation the bench saidIt posted the matter for hearing on August 28 so as to enable the state to come out with proposal for grant of reasonable compensationNeedless to state that if the state government does not come with such a proposal by that date we will be compelled to pass such order as deemed fit and proper in the circumstances the bench saidThe states counsel said they be permitted to file an affidavit so that they can point out the steps taken by themThe bench said the state may file an affidavit before the next date of hearingBut if we find that there is nonapplication of mind and he applicant is being harassediquest not only that we will direct all compensation to be paid as per the new Act we will direct that until that amount is paid all your freebie schemes will be suspended it saidWe are warning you that if we dont find the stand to be genuine apart from directing the compensation to be paid as per the new Act the second direction will hit you more the bench saidWhile hearing the matter on Tuesday the court had asked the state to come up with a reasonable amount of compensationThe court was hearing a matter related to the construction of buildings on forest land in Maharashtra where a private party has succeeded in the apex court to get possession of the land that was illegally occupied by the stateThe state government has claimed that the said piece of land was occupied by the ARDEI a unit of the Centres Defence DepartmentThe government has said subsequently another piece of land was allotted to the private party in lieu of the land that was in the ARDEIs possessionHowever later it was found that the land allotted to the private party was notified as forest landIn its July 23 order the bench noted that the private party which has succeeded up to the top court cannot be denied the benefits of the decree passed in his favourThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever