Calcutta HC directs Bengal CS to appear in court in land compensation case

Kolkata, July 22 (SocialNews.XYZ) A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Friday directed West Bengal chief secretary HK Dwivedi to appear in the court in connection with a case alleging non- payment of compensation to three families who donated land for a state government project. The High Court's division bench of Justice Subrata Talukdar and Justice Krishna Rao directed Dwivedi to appear before the bench on July 29.

It is learnt that a jetty was constructed on the land of the three families in Katwa in East Burdwan district of West Bengal. However, despite repeated reminders the three families were denied compensation for the land given by them for the jetty. In 2019, the families approached the Calcutta High Court's single- judge bench of Justice Harish Tandon who directed the state government to immediately release the compensation to the three families.

However, instead of making the payment, the state government challenged the order before the division bench of Justice Subrata Talukdar and Justice Krishna Rao. The hearings in the matter continued for about three years.

On Friday, the division bench finally delivered the verdict and directed the state government to pay compensation of Rs 90,00,000 to the three families. At the same time, the division bench also directed the state chief secretary to be present before the bench on July 29. The bench observed that the chief secretary will have to answer on behalf of the state government why compensation was denied to the three families for such a long time.

Source: IANS