Click to play videoKolkata: There couldn't have been a better day to be Mamata Banerjee. On the day the West Bengal Chief Minister won her maiden assembly polls, the Calcutta High Court set aside the Tata Motors petition challenging the validity of the Singur Land Act which the state Assembly passed in June this year.
The Act provided for taking over the 997-acre plot from the company and returning a portion to unwilling farmers.
The Tatas, meanwhile, will challenge the order in the Supreme Court.
Ashok Banerjee, Government Pleader, said, "The status of Tata is nothing but...(that of) a simple occupier without having any legal right, that too for a limited period."
"The court accepted the idea of "public purpose" as envisaged by the state Act but recognised its deficiency in compensating Tata Motors for its lost lease-hold title. The court hence directed that sections 23 and 24 from the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 would form the guidelines under which compensation would be paid to the company.
Siddhartha Mitra, counsel for Tata Motors, said, "Unless those sections of the Land Acquisition Act were bodily implanted in the Singur Act, the Act was deficient."
Tata Motors is yet to spell out its response but Mamata Banerjee used the opportunity to take a dig at her political opposition.
Mamata Banerjee said, "Those who criticised us saying that the Singur Act was wrongly framed, that it was drafted in haste, hopefully they would now stay mum. They should accept the verdict of the people and of the court."
The Singur judgment, unless challenged and overruled, is bad news for industry in more ways than one. Though valid only for the Tata Motors plot, the judgment sets a strong precedent for disputed plots outside Singur. It validates the state's position that government can reclaim land from industry if they remain unused beyond a permissible period of time.
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