Mr Justice Soumitra Pal, on Tuesday, “recused” himself from the Tata Motors' petition challenging the Constitutional validity of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act 2011 before the Calcutta High Court, on “personal grounds''.
The matter will now be heard afresh by Mr Justice I.P. Mukherjee on Wednesday. During the day, Mr Justice Pal said that he personally knew one of the persons whose name appeared in the documents relating to the case and decided to “release” the matter.
The Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, Mr J.N. Patel, later assigned the case to Mr Justice Mukherjee. Earlier, the Advocate General, Mr Anindya Mitra, and the Government pleader, Mr Ashok Banerjee, requested Mr Justice Pal to reconsider the decision as it would delay the disposal of the case.
Tata Motors had filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court on June 22 challenging the Constitutional validity of the Act. Hearing on the main petition filed by the auto major along with the amendments to it begun on July 15.