Three years after Tata Motors (TML) left West Bengal?s Singur following a farmers? agitation against its Nano small car factory there, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday ruled that the Mamata Banerjee-led government?s June 14 legislation taking back land from the Tatas was constitutional and valid.
The Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, was one of the first legislative moves of the Trinamool Congress government, which came to power in West Bengal on a pledge to take back the 997 acres allotted to the Tatas.
In his 51-page verdict, justice IP Mukerji cited portions from the Act to explain why he had upheld its validity. ?Since the grant of lease to the TML, four years have passed but no small car production industry has been commissioned for regular production of small car, which has in fact been abandoned by the TML as announced by the TML…? the verdict quoted from the Act.
Picking up from the Act which said ?no employment generation and socioeconomic development has taken place and people in and around the area have not been benefited in any manner, whatsoever…,? and after enclosing arguments both for and against the case, justice Mukerji said: ?The Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, is held to be constitutional and valid. The Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Rules, 2011, are also held to be constitutional and valid. So is any action taken by the state, thereunder.?
Mukerji also directed that compensation be paid to Tata Motors if it makes an application, pointing out that the district judge of Hooghly should determine the amount of compensation to be paid under Sections 23 and 24 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. It held that if TML –which had shifted its plant to Sanand in Gujarat alleging political unrest ? makes an application for compensation, the district judge would have to dispose it within six months. ?Furthermore, if the government admits any compensation in its rejoinder to the application to be filed by the Tatas, the government should pay that compensation immediately, since it has taken possession of the land,? Justice Mukerji said.
Justice Mukerji stayed the application of the order till November 2 to give both parties time to appeal before a higher court. In its initial reaction, Tata Motors said ?it had learnt of the Hon?ble Calcutta High Court?s ruling on The Singur Land Rehabilitation & Development Act 2011. The company will study the judgment and decide its next course of action.? Experts said it expected Tata Motors to take the battle to the Supreme Court.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who won her byelection by over 50,000 votes, hailed the verdict as ?historic? and said the farmers of Singur had sent a message not only to other states, but also to the world.
Earlier, the court appointed the district magistrate and police superintendent of Hooghly district, within which Singur falls, as special officers to ensure smooth transfer of land from Tata Motors to the state in two months. The court also upheld the vesting of the land given to vendors, who had also challenged the Act in a separate application. The court disposed of both the applications, by TML and the vendors, challenging the Singur Act which was notified on June 21.
The government had taken possession of the Singur land on the evening of June 21 itself. Tata Motors had challenged the Act before the High Court on June 22, claiming it was unconstitutional and as such, vesting of the 600 acres of land leased to it was invalid.