Click to play videoKolkata: Tata's motor project at Singur continues to be a thorn in the West Bengal government's side. The latest to take the government to task is none other than the Calcutta High Court.
The Singur land acquisition controversy has acquired a new dimension altogether.
The Calcutta High Court has observed that the Bengal government could have twisted the state's land acquisition laws to pacify protestors by first offering compensation even before farmers gave their consent and then by enhancing the offer following their will to part with land, the government might have laundered public money.
Petitioner's Lawyer MP Babu said, “This is totally wrong. This is manipulation on the part of the government. The Supreme Court has said the government does not have the power to shift from awarding compensations under one scheme to the other."
And though the court hinted that it could nullify land acquisition in Singur, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was caught unawares.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said, “I have not received the court's observations. I will talk to my advocate general. Just now I am not in a position to comment."
The CPI-M has already walked two steps back and has put a hold on land acquisition in Nandigram following violent protests there.
With the legal imbroglio in Singur now more acute than ever, the whole process of farmland acquisition for industry in Bengal could be thwarted even before it properly began.
With Himika Chaudhuri
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