The Supreme Court on Wednesday (August 28, 2024) reprimanded an IAS officer of the Maharashtra government, expressing displeasure over the delay in compensation to a person. The Maharashtra government had illegally occupied the land of this person for more than six decades. The court asked the government why delay and careless attitude is being adopted in calculating the compensation.
Justice Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai, Justice Prashant Mishra and Justice K.V. Vishwanathan’s bench has issued a show cause notice to Rajesh Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary of Forest and Revenue Department. In this, the court asked why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for the contemptuous comments made in the affidavit filed by the department.
The bench directed the senior IAS officer to appear in court in person on September 9. The court said, ‘When the state has sought time for the specific purpose of recalculating the compensation, it should have been done. It appears that the state is adopting a strategy of dilly-dallying.’ The Supreme Court said that it appears from the affidavit that the state government is not serious about giving compensation.
The bench pulled up state government counsel Nishant R. Katneshwarkar and the official who signed the document for filing such an affidavit. When the lawyer requested to withdraw the affidavit and file a new affidavit, the bench told Katneshwarkar, ‘You write anything in the affidavit, the officer signs the affidavit and you expect us to do nothing.’ The bench warned that if the Maharashtra government does not recalculate the compensation payable to the applicant, it will stop the recently launched Ladki Behen Yojana in the state.
The court said, ‘It is the utmost duty of the state government to follow the law and reach a proper conclusion regarding payment of compensation.’ He also said that the officer cannot follow any whimsical idea and cannot avoid following the law.
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