New Delhi, May 14 -- In a scathing indictment, the Supreme Court on Monday chastised the state of Tamil Nadu for its prolonged delay in compensating landowners whose lands were acquired by the state for public purposes.
"You are violating the rights of people. You do not compensate poor landowners and when they are forced to come to this court, you say 'we can pay them now'. This is what your officers are doing. Do they have any shame left? This is sheer high-handedness," a bench of justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan told senior counsel Amit Anand Tiwari. Tiwari was representing the state as its senior additional advocate general (AAG).
The apex court's criticism came during a hearing on a petition filed by aggrieved landowners seekin...