Tata Motors loses Singur battle as Supreme Court cancels land acquisition deal

Finding fault with the land acquisition process, the Supreme Court said that the acquired land has to be returned to the cultivators within 12 weeks from today.

Kolkata: TMC Supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addressing students during Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad foundation day celebrations in Kolkata on Friday. PTI Photo by Swapan Mahapatra

The Supreme Court on Wednesday cancelled the land acquisition deal for the Tata Motor’s Nano factory in Singur, West Bengal. The apex court set aside Calcutta HC order upholding the land acquisition for Tata's Nano plant at Singur in West Bengal, according to a PTI alert.

Finding fault with the land acquisition process, the Supreme Court said that the acquired land has to be returned to the cultivators within 12 weeks from today.

“The land acquisition collector has not properly conducted the inquiry into the complaints of cultivators with regard to acquisition of plots,” said the Supreme Court.

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It further added that the acquisition of land by the State for a company does not fall under the purview of public purpose.

However, at 1448 hours the shares of Tata Motors on BSE was still trading up 2.25% or Rs 11.90, at Rs 540.20 per piece.

In May this year, Justices Gopala Gowda and Arun Kumar Mishra had heard the pleas of the Tatas, the Bengal government and the aggrieved farmers of Singur and had reserved their judgement.

During the hearing, Justice Gowda had mentioned that agricultural land can be acquired for industry, but it is better to avoid use of multi-crop producing land for such an activity.

The Tata group was given around a thousand acres by the state government in 2006 to build a car manufacturing factory but in the wake of violent protests from the Trinamool Congress Party, the project was shelved.

Soon after coming to power in 2011, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee passed a law to take over the land and forced the Tatas to move their project out of the state to Gujarat's Sanad district.

Tata Motors moved the Calcutta High Court challenging the law. The acquisition of the land was upheld by a trial court and the law passed by the Trinamool Congress-led state government was declared unconstitutional on appeal.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)

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