Tata Motors wins court case over Singur land

June 22, 2012: The Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, which came into force under the current State government led by Mamata Banerjee, has been held as unconstitutional and void by the Calcutta High Court today. Under the Act, the State had vested land leased to Tata Motors.

Giving its verdict on an appeal by Tata Motors, a division bench comprising Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Mrinal Kanti Chaudhury observed that it was void and unconstitutional as the President’s assent had not been taken for the Act. The division bench set aside the order of Justice I P Mukerji who had held the Act to be constitutional. The court also observed that what was done in Singur was acquisition of land by the said Act and as such it was void.

Tata Motors had challenged the order of the single bench of the Calcutta High Court, which had upheld the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, before the division bench of the court. Tata Motors decided to relocate from Singur in October 2008 to Sanand in Gujarat.

Tata Motors had appealed against the order of Justice Mukerji, which was passed on September 28 last year. Justice Mukerji had held the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act 2011 to be constitutional. The court had, however, ordered on September 28 an unconditional stay of the judgement till November 2 to allow any aggrieved party to file an appeal, if it so desired.

Tata Motors had been leased 997 acres at Singur in Hooghly district, about 40km from Kolkata, by the previous Left Front government for its Nano car project, billed as the cheapest car in the world. Tata Motors’ plant operation in Singur was expected to create employment in excess of 10,000 direct and indirect jobs within the plant, among vendors and service providers in the vicinity.