SC: Return 997 acres to Singur farmers

R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, August 31 

The Supreme Court today directed the West Bengal Government to return to the owners all 997 acres (4 sq km) of land acquired in Hooghly's Singur village for Tata Motors’ Nano car project within 12 weeks without recovering the compensation amount. The ruling came on a bunch of petitions by affected landowners and social activists.

A Bench comprising Justices Gopala Gowda and Arun Mishra quashed the land acquisition order, but the judges gave different reasons for doing so. The court said the landowners need not return the compensation received by them as they had been deprived of using their land all these years. The judges clarified that landowners who had not received compensation were entitled for it now.

Justice Gowda ruled that the acquisition was “bad and illegal” as the intention was to favour a private company and not to serve any public purpose as mandated under the Land Acquisition Act. He also found fault with the acquisition proceedings.

Justice Mishra, however, held that the acquisition was for a public purpose as it was intended to ensure industrialisation of West Bengal and provide employment to thousands of jobless youth. But he agreed with Justice Gowda that the acquisition proceedings stood vitiated due to lapses in considering objections by the affected farmers/owners, and  in deciding the compensation amount.

The apex court also set aside the Calcutta High Court judgment upholding the land acquisition by the then CPI(M)-led Left Front government headed by Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, who was in the Opposition then, had spearheaded an agitation against the acquisition.

On becoming CM after winning the 2011 elections, Mamata got a law passed in the Assembly to retrieve 400 acres of the 997 acres given to Tata Motors. The High Court, on Tata Motors’ plea, struck down Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act 2011, holding it as unconstitutional. The state government's appeal against this ruling has been rendered irrelevant in view of today’s judgment.

Tata Motors did not want to return the land despite moving its small car project to Gujarat, saying it would use the land for setting up ancillary and other units.