The Bombay High Court has imposed a cost of Rs. 75,000 on the Maharashtra government for its failure to allot a plot of land to a war widow. Expressing strong displeasure over bureaucratic delays, the Division Bench of Justices Abhay Oka and AS Chandurkar said that the amount should be recovered from the concerned officials. The bench was hearing the petition of 72-year-old Indira Jadhav whose husband was martyred in the 1965 Indo-Pak war. While Jadvav claimed she had approached the state government for land in the 1970s, the state argued that she made a formal application only in 2011. The court, however, ordered that she be allotted a 10-acre agricultural land within six weeks, in accordance with a 1971 government resolution. The court further ordered that Jadhav may be given another piece of residential plot measuring 300 square metres in the same place as per the 1998 GR at 50 per cent of the occupancy rates in the ready reckoner. The court said it was shocking that the officials had noted that Jadhav was not traceable although her address was mentioned in the application. The bench directed the Maharashtra Chief Secretary to find out whether there were similar cases and ensure that speedy action was taken in all of them.