With Tata Motors getting relief from the Supreme Court on the Singur dispute, the company said the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, enacted by the West Bengal Government “seeks to legalise force”.
It added that the powers granted to the District Judge of Hooghly as the adjudicator for determining the land compensation, without any guidelines or parameters, is “in clear derogation of the Constitution of India”.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court gave ‘interim protection' to Tata Motors by granting a stay on the distribution of land at Singur till the Calcutta High Court has decided on the matter.
The apex court also said that an order should be passed in a month.
“The Act seeks to legalise force and taking advantage of the same, the State by a midnight operation using police force, dispossessed the security guards from the plant site and trespassed into it,” a Tata Motors statement said.
It added, “The Act appoints the District Judge of Hooghly as the adjudicator for determining the compensation, without any guidelines or parameters on the basis of which the compensation would be decided. It gives an unguided delegation of powers to the District Judge Hooghly in clear derogation of the Constitution of India.”
The automaker further said since the State Government had failed to ensure a safe and congenial environment at Singur, an essential condition for the operation of the plant, it “cannot charge the company with non-commissioning and abandonment and take away its rights as enshrined in the lease agreement between the company and the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation.”