Image credits - aithiya
On August 7, the Supreme Court of India expressed strong disapproval of the Maharashtra government’s failure to file an affidavit concerning compensation in a case where the state illegally occupied private property and subsequently allocated forest land to the affected party. The Court reprimanded the government for treating its orders with apparent disregard and emphasized the need for prompt compliance.
Justice BR Gavai, alongside Justices Sandeep Mehta and KV Viswanathan, was hearing the TN Godavarman case, an omnibus matter related to forest protection. The case involves a litigant whose family had purchased a 24-acre plot in Pune in the 1950s. After the state occupied this land, the litigant pursued legal action, eventually winning a decree from the Supreme Court. However, the state later claimed that the land had been allocated to a Defense Institute, which refused to evict the occupants.
Despite a decade of legal wrangling and a previous rebuke from the Bombay High Court, the litigant was only allocated an alternative piece of land in 2004, which was later found to be within a notified forest area. The Supreme Court had earlier criticized the state’s actions as illegal and lacking due diligence.
The Court had directed the Maharashtra government to file an affidavit addressing whether an equivalent piece of land would be provided to the petitioner, whether adequate compensation would be offered, and whether the state intended to seek denotification of the land from the Central Government.
The Court dismissed the state’s argument about insufficient time since the order’s upload, stating that the excuse was unfounded as the order had been delivered in the presence of all parties. The Court warned that if the affidavit is not filed by the next hearing, the chief secretary would be required to appear in person.