Will stop all freebies until private party compensated: SC warns Maha govt

The Supreme Court on Wednesday warned the Maharashtra government of suspending its freebie schemes unless it pays compensation to a private party whose land was "illegally" occupied by it more than six decades ago. Coming down heavily on the Maharashtra government, the apex court castigated it saying the state has huge amount to "waste on freebies" but does not have money to compensate to a private party which lost land to it "illegally". Observing that Maharashtra's conduct in the matter was not that of a "model state", the apex court warned it may direct that all the freebie schemes will be suspended until the compensation amount was not paid. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan noted while the state has offered to pay Rs 37.42 crore as compensation, the applicant's counsel has contended that it comes to around Rs 317 crore. Advocate Nishant R Katneshwarkar, appearing for Maharashtra, urged the bench to grant three weeks time saying the matter was being considered a