Tata Motors Ltd today challenged the constitutional validity of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011 – enacted by the Ms Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal Government on June 21 – in Calcutta High Court.
Soon after notification of the Act, the State had taken control over the now 997-acre integrated complex for the now abandoned Nano project at Singur in Hooghly district, on late Tuesday evening.
The 54 vendors (auto ancillary makers) of Nano project – many of whom had either set up their respective facilities inside the complex or were in the process of commissioning the plant and machinery before the project was called off on October 3, 2008 – have also participated in the litigation.
The prayers of the vendors, moved by their counsel Ms Mousumi Bhattacharya, are yet to be heard.
Describing the Tuesday's events as an “expedition at midnight” to dispossess Tata and its vendors from their lawful possession of land including the factory sheds, remaining equipment and others by use of “force”; Tata Motors in its over 500-page petition before Mr Justice Soumitra Pal, today, described the Singur Act and its consequences as unconstitutional, illegal and void.
“If Singur Act is valid then powers vested on the State for acquisition of land should be repealed,” Tata Motors' counsel Mr Samaraditya Pal said.
Referring to earlier cases, Tata Motors said that the State had “wrongfully” taken control of the land and assets by use of ‘force' and prayed before the Court for “injunction” restraining the State Government from acting in terms of the Act; restoration of status quo as on June 20 (when the area was under the possession of Tata Motors) and appointment of a special officer for the land and the assets. The court did not pass any interim order today.
Protracted battle ahead
Meanwhile at the court, the “unwilling farmers” – who did not accept compensation during the process of land acquisition for the ill-fated project and to whom land is expected to be redistributed (approximately 400 acres out of 997 acres) through the Singur Act, wanted to be a party to the litigation in support of the Singur Act.
Another group of landowners describing themselves as “original owners of the land” are likely to participate in the litigation challenging the Singur Act.
Reiterating that the company came to West Bengal at the invitation of the then Government which promised to match the fiscal benefits offered by Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, Tata Motors said that they had “reluctantly” left Singur as the State failed to ensure law and order in the face of the agitation led by Ms Banerjee (who was then the principal Opposition leader) and threats against the project as well as employees and foreign experts working on the project.