Pune: Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would stop the ‘Ladki Bahin’ scheme if reasonable compensation was not paid to the party affected by the acquisition of land measuring 24 acres and 38 gunthas in Pashan in 1961, which was later given to Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), a premier defence institute in Pune, in 1963. The SC bench of Justice B R Gavai and Justice K V Viswanathan told the special counsel for Maharashtra govt to seek instructions from the state chief secretary and make a statement on Wednesday. At the last hearing on Aug 7, the SC had expressed its displeasure over Maharashtra govt’s inability to file an affidavit clarifying its stand.
The bench then observed that state govt had funds to distribute for the Ladli Behna (Ladki Bahin in Maharashtra) and Ladka Bhau schemes but not for paying money for the loss of land. SC gave one last chance to state govt to file an affidavit by Aug 13. On Tuesday, Maharashtra govt informed SC that based on a “sympathetic consideration” of the affected party’s case, it was willing to give Rs 37.
42 crore compensation. The landowner, however, insisted that the compensation was not reasonable, considering the location and the prevailing ready reckoner rate. We also published the following articles recently Will stop 'Ladki Bahin' if land acquisition dues not paid: SC The Supreme Court warned it might halt the 'Ladki Bahin' scheme if the Maharashtra government fails to provide reasonable compensatio.