Will stop 'bahu, behan' yojana if dues not paid: SC pulls up Maha govt

The Supreme Court bench said that it will stop freebies offered by the Maharashtra government if the state fails to pay up the due compensation by August 28

The Supreme Court rebuked the Maharashtra government on Wednesday over compensation owed to landowners who were allocated denotified reserve forest land.

The Supreme Court bench – comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan – said it would stop state-provided freebies if the due compensation is not paid by August 28, according to a Bar and Bench report.

“If you (Maharashtra) do not pay unless we permit it, we will not allow all those freebies in the state. We will stop the ladki, bahu, behan yojana... It is a holiday tomorrow (August 15); otherwise, if we had called the chief secretary, it would be resolved. But we do not want to burden the state exchequer. We are constrained to make these observations. You have thousands of crores of public money (for freebies), but you cannot compensate someone who was deprived of land without due process,” said Justice Gavai during the hearing.

 

The bench was addressing a matter related to compliance with its earlier order directing the payment of compensatory afforestation levy by the state concerning the denotification of forest land at Pashan, Pune.

Not the first time SC chided Maha govt  

Earlier, on August 7, the Supreme Court had criticised the Maharashtra government's recent budget, under which various incentives amounting to Rs 96,000 crore were announced ahead of the state Assembly elections, scheduled later this year.

The state government also announced the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, which proposes a Rs 1,500 monthly payment to women in the 21-65 age group. "You have enough money for Laadli bahu (schemes) and all. All the money spent on freebies should be redirected 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 still to be determined. The bench had eventually given the state until August 9 to file an affidavit and warned that failure to do so would result in the chief secretary of the state being directed to appear in court.