Will ‘bahu, behan’ yojana stop if dues not paid: SC pulls up Maha govt
Supreme Court (Photo: Wikipedia)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday reprimanded the Maharashtra government for the compensation it owed to landowners who were deprived of designated reserve forest land.
The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan has said it will stop the freebies provided by the state if the compensation due is not paid by August 28, according to a report by the Bar Council and the Court.
“If you (Maharashtra) don’t pay unless we allow it, we will not allow all these freebies in the state. We will stop the ladki, bahu, behan yojana… Tomorrow (August 15) is a public holiday; otherwise, if we had called the chief secretary, it would have been sorted out. But we don’t want to burden the state exchequer. We are forced to make these observations. You have thousands of crores of public money (for freebies), but you cannot compensate a person who has been deprived of land without due process,” Justice Gavai said during the hearing.
The court was hearing an issue relating to compliance with an earlier order directing the state to pay compensatory reforestation levy in respect of the exemption from notification requirement for forest land in Pashan, Pune.
This is not the first time that SC has reprimanded the Maha government
Earlier, on August 7, the Supreme Court had criticised the Maharashtra government’s recent budget, which had announced various stimulus measures worth Rs 96,000 crore ahead of the state Assembly elections scheduled for later this year.
The state government also announced the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, which proposes a monthly payment of Rs 1,500 to women in the age group of 21-65. “You have enough money for Laadli bahu (schemes) and everything. All the money spent on freebies should be diverted to compensate for the loss of land,” the court had said on August 7.
The SC’s observation came after the state government explained that it had not yet made the payment in question as the rates were yet to be fixed. The court had finally given the state time till August 9 to file an affidavit and warned that if it failed to do so, the state’s chief secretary would be produced before the court.
First publication: Aug 14, 2024 | 7:05 PM IST